Harry Potter and the Hidden Powers
by TheWizard01
Summary: Following the events on Order of The Phoenix with elements from books, movies and my own imagination. Centered around the golden trio, Ginny, the usual side characters and some OC's. Mix of adventure, romance, drama and action. Simply some ideas of how the story could have continued after Harrys fifth year.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own any of the characters from the original Harry Potter books/movies created by J. . However, there will be a few characters of my own imagination in this fanfiction. Enjoy!

 **Authors Note (A/N)**

This is my first fanfiction ever and english isn't even my second language so please have a little mercy and patience. Reviews and critique will help me immensely while writing this.

I'm still in school and I have a life so I will post chapters at my own pace depending on how I see fit.

Also, this might be a very long fiction, perhaps divided into more than one part. I don't know when I'm going to stop writing this or how this story will end but if it goes well enough, this will go as far as DH and possibly beyond.

Lastly, I will touch on facts and events from the movies as well as the books so don't be surprised to see a little bit of both.

Please enjoy!

So without further ado...

 **Chapter 1: A Night's Storm**

Even though it was early July, in the middle of summer, there was a storm all over the area of and around Little Whinging.

It was pouring big, heavy drops of rain out of the dark clouds that were hanging in sky with a green, unnatural light shining through them, and every once in a while the growling of thunder could be heard. The wind was howling as it swept through the unpopulated streets of the town. It seemed only logical that no one would be out under these harsh conditions when you could just wait out the end of the storm inside one of the many white houses of the suburb.

However, one teenage boy defied that assumption by sitting out on the lawn of one of these houses, letting his hair and clothes get soaking wet.

He seemed entirely oblivious his rather unpleasant surroundings and appeared to be lost in thoughts judging by the empty look in his green eyes.

Even though the rain was crashing down on the now cold stone for hours, the boy didn't even move. It was like he was frozen there. After the last sunlight had vanished and dusk had passed into the night, the boy finally stood up, turned around and opened the door he was sitting in front of.

As Harry Potter walked into the Dursleys home, he knew that he walked out of one storm into another one. Almost momentarily after stepping into the house, his Uncle Vernon confronted him before he could walk up to his room.

"How dare you come back in this state, dropping water all over the floor we so kindly let you walk on?", he shouted.

Harry, knowing that arguing would only make it worse, replied very monotone.

"I'm sorry. Won't happen again"

After giving him one last glare, Vernon let him pass and walk up the stairs, surprising his nephew who had expected a longer tirade. Considering that it was already late and Harry had missed out on dinner, he barely had the power to climb up the staircase. Not that he would have eaten anyway, but he still needed the energy. As he reached the top, he tripped and heard a mocking laugh from Dudley who was standing downstairs, watching as Harry struggled.

Ignoring his cousin, Harry opened up his room and dropped on his bed and almost immediately fell asleep. However, the peaceful rest he so desperately needed did not last long.

So after the storm that was raging outside and inside his house, now another one would be happening inside his head.

Harry had his usual nightmare about the battle at the Department of Mysteries. He dreamt about the strange rooms that his friends and him saw while they were looking for that damned prophecy. He dreamt about how Ron got attacked by the brain he saw in that tank. He dreamt about how they were cornered by Death Eaters and Malfoy taunted him. He dreamt about how the members of the Order of The Phoenix arrived and how he felt hope again, just to have it extinguished a few moments later by Bellatrix Lestrange who hit his godfather, the only kind of true family he may have ever had, making him fall into that strange veil.

Then, Harry suddenly awoke, panting from the intensity of his dreams and the continuous moving he did while sleeping. At least he hadn't screamed as much as usual, avoiding an argument with his Uncle who always complained that Harry made too much noise and stopped him from sleeping. So it wasn't just that he was having terrible nightmares, but he also got punished for it. Every time he thought about that, a bitter chuckle escaped his mouth. At least he had gotten used to this feeling of empti- and loneliness he got when he woke up from those dreams by. He may have gotten Voldemort out of his head back at the Department of Mysteries, but the influence of the Dark Lord on his mind could not be denied.

After shortly considering going back to sleep but then deciding against it, Harry stood up from his bed, took a half-working flashlight and made his way over to his trunk. Unfortunately, even now after the Ministry of Magic backed off a bit, he couldn't risk casting a simple "Lumos". It may just give Minister Fudge the excuse he needed to harass him again, and he definitely didn't want that to happen.

Without really knowing why, Harry picked up the picture of the original Order of The Phoenix. He passed over the few people on the right he didn't know and the his eyes rested a bit longer on the Longbottoms.

Harry was reminded of the story Neville told him last year about his parents. He could relate so much more to the deep agony and hatred inside his friend towards Bellatrix Lestrange after she had killed serious.

Of course he already knew what it felt like to lose something, to lose someone. But he had always directed those feelings towards Voldemort. Obviously a lot of people had suffered under the Dark Lord, but Harrys case was a special one.

Not only because he had been marked or because of what the prophecy said, but because he had suffered so much more under Voldemort than others. It was not only the physical pain, Harry knew others had felt that as well, whether it was the cruciatus curse or some other method of inflicting pain. It wasn't the death of his family either. He hadn't been the only one to lose his relatives.

No, it was much more the mental pain he had cause him over the years. Starting with the events around the Philosophers Stone and what Quirrel did to him and his friends, then the Chamber Of Secrets, the Diary and the Basilisk to which he nearly lost Hermione, Ginny and many more. After saving Sirius and creating the DA he felt some kind of belonging again, just to have that taken away again not even two years later. And of course there was still the huge pain he felt every time he thought of what happened to Cedric.

The worst part, and also the most unique one, was the connection he had with Voldemort. Having it cause his godfather's death didn't really help either. The nearly constant fear to not be able to retreat away from all around him, not even into his own mind, really messed with Harry. Also, his scar was continuously hurting and he could tell when Voldemort felt pleasure, which could only mean he had killed someone or some other bad thing. Nobody else has that, and nobody could feel how he felt about Voldemort.

But now he could relate to someone on a more personal level, since he felt similarly as his roomate from Hogwarts about Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry didn't know if Neville would ever really want to talk about his parents, especially now after he had been confronted by the Death Eater. But he knew that if his friend needed someone who could understand him, he would be there. It was the least he could do after leading him to the Ministry to fight with him and getting him hurt.

Even though it wasn't really Harry's thing to talk about his emotions, but he knew that someone understanding could be useful. The real reason he didn't talk about his feelings is because there was no one who could really relate to the pain inside him. Therefore, everyone trying to talk to him about just seemed ignorant to him.

Harry knew that his friends and members of the Order cared for him and asked how he felt because they genuinely wanted to know if and how they could aid him, but he couldn't help but feel at least a tiny bit annoyed at them for constantly trying to have him open up. Couldn't they understand that they couldn't connect to him on that level?

These thoughts had been reoccurring over the summer, just like the nightmares. And he wanted to get rid of both of them.

Knowing that his sadness and anxiety would only grow larger if he continued to look at the picture, he decided to put it away.

Then, Harry just sat there. He didn't know what to do. Being at the Dursleys house did not only make him feel bad because of the way they treated him but also because of the incredible amount of boredom he had. There was nothing to do. He couldn't play quidditch or just go flying, he didn't have his friends there to hang out with him. He'd even rather go to a class of History of Magic than to be here all day.

It occurred to him that a bit of time had passed so he decided to go back to sleep. Even though, Harry knew that he would have nightmares again, he also realized that he'd have similar images in his mind if he was awake, so why not at least try to sleep a bit? Judging by the large black rings under his eyes, he could really need it.

So, once again, Harry Potter lied down in his bed at 4 Privet Drive, hoping to get some sleep before waking up to the rather hurtful reality that was his life and wishing that it would not haunt him in his sleep.

 **A/N:**

This is it. First chapter done. Please R/R.

Don't worry, this story will not be consistently depressing. Obviously Harry is not very happy at the moment but there will also be positive aspects later in the story.

Since it's been some time that both the books and the movies have been out and there's a ton of fan fictions out there it's likely that you have seen some of the elements in this story before. However, I try to not steal from stories, but obviously there's some good ideas that I let myself get inspired from.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer** :

I do not own any of the characters from the original Harry Potter books/movies created by J. . However, there will be a few characters of my own imagination in this fanfiction. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 2: Letters and routines**

It was a little before six am when Harry got up from his bed after the first sunbeams shined through his window. He always wanted to wake up before the Dursleys so that they wouldn't have another excuse to shout at him and call him a lazy boy who didn't do anything for his family. As if they had ever really done something for him.

Of course he knew, that he was allowed to stay at their house, one of the very few things he grateful for to his relatives. But he also knew the other side of that story. That Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid had delivered him to their house after his parents were killed and told the Dursleys to treat him well.

And that story continued until the end of the last term, when Moody and the rest of the Order threatened Harry's adoptive family to not harm him and leave him in peace.

So, his aunt and uncle did what was necessary to keep him alive and somewhat health and from complaining to anyone too much. Harry was certain that the meals he was allowed to eat and the room he was allowed to stay in were not symbols of compassion but simply of duty and also fear.

After the events with Dudley last summer and Marge three years ago, he simply knew that he wouldn't be accepted into this family. He also knew they didn't want him there, just as much as he didn't want to be there. They wouldn't even see him as an equal human being because of his magic. But unfortunately, there really wasn't another option than staying at Privet Drive every summer, at least for the next two years.

So, instead of mourning after a lost family, he decided to focus on the possibilities of having a new one. Even though they might not be bonded by blood, his friends were such an important part of his life. Simple actions like playing chess with Rom or studying with Hermione made him feel just a little better and reminded him that he had something worth living for. Harry desperately needed to be reminded of that.

With Sirius he felt like he could have something real to come back to once the war was over. The chance to be a normal boy learning things from his father, or in this case godfather. He was sure that Sirius would have liked that job and been good at it too. His godfather represented the possibility of not having to feel this large burden alone or at all. A common memory he still used for his Patronus' was the moment Sirius told him he would like to live with Harry one day. Having someone voluntarily live with him, nevertheless someone this closely connected to his real parents, was a feeling of content that Harry had not known before.

This secret desire Harry had kept in his heart and mind for two years was extinguished when he saw his godfather fall to the other side of the veil. He thought that once again, he had lost all hope to being with someone so close they could be considered family.

So he tried to turn to his friends after Sirius passed away, looking for a new place where he could ask for help or come to with problems. There were only two issues with that idea.

For one, his friends just didn't have the same knowledge and experience that his godfather had possessed. The wisdom of Sirius had helped Harry on numerous occasions, and even though his friends had stood with him through almost everything, they were just not up to his level yet.

Secondly, they were to involved in his life. This might sound a bit paradox, but there is a pretty simple reason behind it. After all, Sirius was only connected with Harry through the order, of which his godson wasn't even really a part of, apart from their private relationship.

So when Harry told his godfather something, he would listen and think of what was best for Harry, whether it was about something small as a problem at school or something like Voldemort hurting him through his scar. Sirius' first priority was Harry.

Now Ron and Hermione of course had Harry's wellbeing on their minds as well, but they were pursuing their own agendas as well. So when Harry mentioned a problem to them, they obviously wanted to help but if it hurt them they would have to think twice about it. They knew all his other friends so if he had a problem with one of them, they would side with Harry but they wouldn't be happy about it and he didn't like to put his best friends in that position.

They could also be expelled or punished for doing things with him. Sirius never had that problem it probably would have been the other way around, considering that his godfather had been hunted since he escaped from Azkaban, even though he was innocent.

Still, he had been there for Harry. Now he wasn't and there didn't seem to be anyone who could fill that void he left in his godsons heart. Not even the people who had been there with him since he found out about the magical world.

Nevertheless, Harry knew his friends were there for him and we was reminded of that almost everyday by the letters they sent through the summer. A feeling of warmth and affection filled him up when they were writing to him.

Earlier in the summer they had asked him about Sirius, but soon realized he wasn't going to talk about it. His replies to their questions about how they could help or how he was feeling either got ignored or they got a short "Don't worry, I'm fine" back.

Harry didn't want to talk about his emotions to them at the moment, he wasn't even entirely sure what he was feeling himself. He'd rather have them talk about their own summer in the letters. When he heard that Ron was feeling better and playing Quidditch with his brothers again, he felt very happy for his friend. When Hermione told him about what book she had read and how good it was, he always had to smile about how his friend could not even stop studying and reading during her vacation. When he heard about the new products and stories from the Jokeshop from Fred and George, he actually started laughing again.

Hearing about happy lives made him happy as well. It also lifted some of the guilt he felt about endangering all the time. Knowing that his friends could enjoy their summer nevermind all the stuff that was going on put him in a positive mood.

Because of that, reading all the letters he had gotten so far became some kind of ritual he performed in the morning before leaving his room and confronting the Dursleys again. But for the first part of the day, nothing they said got to him because of the energy he had gotten reading the letters.

Molly Weasleys letters were always the last part of his morning reading session. She knew that the Dursleys weren't the best hosts so she wanted to make sure he was eating enough. Even though Harry's appetite was very limited since the battle at the Ministry, he tried to get something down after reading her letters and succeded most of the time.

It was harder at the start but then he asked if she could tell him the food they had eaten and parts of their conversations the Weasley family had during their meals. He read those while eating his own food and imagining he was there and enjoying his time. It really helped because he was distracted and did not think about anything bad during his meals which caused that he actually finished most of them.

Knowing that his positive attitude would fade over the course of the day, he tried to eat as much as possible in the morning to come close to the amount a person his age need every day.

So, like every other day, Harry Potter read all his letters except the last one from Molly that she had sent him two days ago. Then, he walked down to the kitchen, as quietly as possible to not wake any of his relatives. Staying silent, he made himself an Omelette and some Bacon. His Aunt never though that her nephew would take anything anyway. She assumed either her son or her husband ate something during the day when she wasn't looking.

Over the summer, Harry had actually gotten really good at cooking because he did it every single day and tried to vary his meals a bit. Sometimes Miss Weasley even sent him some recipes if he asked for it.

After having finished making his breakfastt and cleaned the kitchen, leaving no trace of his actions, he walked back up to his room to eat something and finish reading the letters.

Over two weeks in Surrey he had planned out a routine to keep him from boredom. One of the worst things about this place was, that Harry didn't really have anything to do. While people were constantly threatened or hurt by Voldemort or his Death Eaters, the Boy-Who-Lived was supposed to sit at home and forced to do nothing. It gave him anxiety.

So, after the first couple days, he thought he might as well prepare himself and train instead of simply waiting. Every morning after his breakfast, he went out and ran for about half an hour. The Dursleys didn't notice he was gone when they woke up and they also wouldn't have cared. Harry made sure not to go to far though, just in case someone with bad intentions decided to come to Little Whinging. His wand accompanied him at all times as well, even if he wasn't allowed to use it. The safety measures probably came from hearing Moody's voice in back of his reminding him of the importance of "Constant Vigilance".

These runs really helped him clear his mind in the morning and avoid any negativity when starting into his day. For someone like him who had a lot on his mind usually, this was a great achievement. He would make sure to keep running after returning to Hogwarts.

Coming back from jogging, Harry went back into the house and showered. Luckily enough he didn't take long in the bathrrom or the Dursleys would complain how he was exploiting them. There was no one here for whom he would have wanted to look decent anyway.

Thinking ahead, Harry had brought 30 books with him so he could read one every day. So, for a couple hours he read a book. Hermione would be proud. Even though he wasn't allowed to practice his magic outside of school for another year (and a couple days), he could learn all there was about it. He might have the talent, powers and skills he needed to become a great wizard and be able to defeat Voldemort but the more kinds of magic he learned about and knew how to use, the better.

He was already pretty curious about how the Orders and Death Eaters were able to fly without using a broomstick or some other kind of enchanted object at the DOM, just leaving some king of silver streak or grey smoke. Harry thought that it would be pretty useful to fly without having to summon or use an object. If his brrom got broken during Quidditch he wouldn't fall down and break himself some bones, or he could could escape quickly without needing to apparate and fear to get splinched or get another letter from the Ministry or he could tail someone and keep an overview over an area. The possible uses were enormous.

Unfortunately he didn't have the chance to ask anyone from the Order about it after the battle ended, his mind to focussed on processing what had happened. He didn't even have any idea on what it might be called, never mind finding a boom about it. It was obvious that one of the Order members would be able to tell him what he wanted to know when he would see them again. Maybe Ron's father could tell him about it when he would be at the Burrow.

Todays piece of wizarding literature Harry picked out was called "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" by Newt Scamander. The book dealt with the many magical creatures that existed in the wizarding world and how to treat them correctly. Harry was fascinated by it. The immense diversity in the world was impressive. Some where rather dark creatures and others sounded very affectionate. It must have been amazing to be able to study all these creatures. He wondered if he would able to meet the author one day, maybe Hagrid would know him since they both worked in the same field. If not, Dumbledore must have heard of someone like that.

While reading the book, a couple hours passed until Harry decided to take a break. He wasn't entirely finished, it was a long book. Apparently Mr. Scamander had added to it several time and expanded on the current knowledge while also including information about other creatures he had discovered.

Around this time, Harry had to let himself be seen so that his Aunt wouldn't forget about him completely. So at about 10 am, he went downstairs to greet his family (except Uncle Vernon who was at work).

They reacted in the same, cold way as always and he was fine with it. Like every other day, Petunia gave him some chores to do, written down on a little piece of paper. Normally, he always did them right away so they didn't give him even more stuff to do, even though today wasn't that much.

All he was asked to do was to buy some groceries and to mow the lawn in the backyard. He'd be done with that by noon so he could enjoy his lunch, which usually came from the grocery store as well. Aunt Petunia did not notice the little extra money spent, just like the food missing in the morning. He ate it outside anyways. Unfortunately, that didn't allow him to eat something warm and energizing.

So after walking to the store, eating and mowing the lawn without any problems or unusual events, he was left alone again.

He quickly finished his book and then did his work out for the day. That included exercises like push- and sit-ups, a couple minutes of plank, wall-sit, squats, lunges and burpees. He had bought a muggle fitness magazine about a week ago and looked for a training that would help him get stronger physically, focusing on the muscles he used most for quidditch. Harry did several circuits of his exercises before heading for another shower.

The workouts were great for his physical health and growth obviously, but also to clear his mind, just like the running. He was to busy focusing on getting better and finishing than on anything else, and he really liked having something to work towards.

After the shower he worked on something that had popped into his mind a couple days ago. Harry was sure that it would help him a lot in his future endeavors. There were all these spells in the wizarding world and most of them were useful, some also in battle, which he focused on.

But his own imagination grew larger with every adventure he had been in throughout the last five years of his life and he had some ideas for own spells. So, he decided to find out what spells would be useful in battle and in dangerous situations and tried to create them.

He worked on the creation of a couple spells for an hour or two before he was too anxious to continue. Not being able to test out and practice something of his own creation was nerve racking.

His next daily activity was reading the Daily Prophet. It was important to keep up with the news of the wizarding world, especially in times like this. Luckily enough, they also delivered to Muggle houses when underage wizard wanted an edition. Harry had ordered the paper for all of July to Privet Drive. There wasn't anything particular today, apart of an apparently very good American wand shop that had opened in Diagon Ally. He wondered if there was a difference between British and American wands. Keeping that in mind, he went on to read the rest of the paper.

When he finished, it was around 3:30 in the afternoon. So far no minute of boredom has passed. Still, now the possibilities to keep busy were pretty much all used up. From here on out, his days started to vary. If Harry felt like working out or running again, he did that. Sometimes he worked a bit on his own spells as well, neatly writing down everything about them in a book. He never read another book though, it would be missing during the next day.

Mostly, he just walked or sat outside and thought. Even though most thoughts he had were not very positive, it wasn't good for himself to not let them flow in his mind once in a while. They were simply to strong and present to do that.

So, Harry went outside and found himself back at the playground where he had been attacked by dementors last year. His thoughts started to dwell on the person who was responsible for this: Dolores Umbridge. After Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy she was one of the people Harry hated the most. Therefore, he decided to stop thinking about her and started to swing. It was actually really nice to do it and he felt free when he went high. Even though he noticed some strange looks on the faces of other people around who were wondering about this teenage boy finding so much joy in swinging, he wasn't disturbed at all. The emotion he got was similar to flying. Still, it was getting late and he should get going to not miss dinner again. He even had some appetite today.

After arriving back at the Dursleys, he helped Aunt Petunia to prepare the food while Dudley was playing some kind of video game. Everything as usual.

During dinner, he got ignored while his relatives were talking about their day. Not that it was interesting anyway but they acted like he didn't exist so he might as well do the same. Afterwards, his Aunt had him clean the plates and clear the table while the family sat down in front of the television. Even though he didn't like them, it would seem to have a family like the Dursleys did (Harry excluded of course).

He considered going out like on the previous day but after yesterday it wasn't really the number one thing to do on his wish list. He might not have noticed the storm but after walking in he definitely felt wet and his mood hadn't been great either.

Deciding on ending the day early, he didn't have anything to do now anyways, he left to go upstairs to his room, change and go to bed.

As he was about to close the lights, he looked outside of the window and saw...

 **A/N :**

 **Next chapter done, this time a bit longer and descriptive and also happier. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 : Ginny**

… Hedwig returning with a letter from the Burrow. Since the Weasleys only had one owl, they decided to have Fred, George and the parents use theirs while Ron and Ginny would be sharing Hedwig. Charlie and Bill were barely home and if they wanted to say something they could borrow one of the owls. All Harry had gotten from them over the summer was greetings. Not that he expected more, the two oldest brothers were the ones he knew the least. Maybe that would change over time, they certainly seemed like decent people and capable wizards.

Harry quickly ran downstairs, still trying to be as silent as possible as the Dursleys were still awake. Considering their hatred towards Hedwig and owls in general, it would seem possible that they left the animal outside for the night if they were aware of its presence.

Opening the door just wide enough for Hedwig to fly through, Harry signaled his pet to stay quiet. By now, the signals were almost always understood and executed by the owl. The two had certainly formed a strong bond over the year.

Harry quietly ran up the stairs behind his owl. In his room, he opened Hedwigs cage and let her in. He didn't like that she was forced to live under these conditions but there didn't seem to be another way.

Before locking the cage, he took out the letter Hedwig had brought. He sat down at his desk, opened it and started to read.

 _Hey Harry,_

 _How are you doing? I'm pretty good, everyone at the Burrow is having a good time!_

 _Charlie arrived yesterday, he says hi, and we've been playing quidditch nearly all day. It's unfortunate that Fred and George won't be on the team this year, but we'll manage right?_

 _I was wondering if you'll be playing again now that Umbridge is gone? I mean I don't see a reason why not and we need you as seeker. But I have a feeling I don't need to convince you!_

 _So, what have you been up to? Ready to come to the Burrow in 12 a couple days?_

 _Oh, and you gotta let us know what you want for your birthday, we'll be celebrating with you! Hermione is gonna arrive here before your birthday as well!_

 _And there's another big news. Obviously we'll be going to Diagon Ally but we'll also go to London all together to buy new clothes in Muggle Stores. Hermione says they're decent and not very expensive and obviously Dad is fascinated with the idea to go._

 _Mums calling, dinner is ready, I gotta hurry, just one more question._

 _Are you gonna restart the DA this year? It was really fun and I learned a lot!_

 _Hope to hear from you soon,_

 _Ginny_

Harry rolled the letter back up and went to bed. He would reply tomorrow morning.

He'd have to think about some of the stuff anyways. Quidditch wasn't a question, he'd be back on the pitch as soon as possible.

The DA really depended on the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. After all they only formed it to learn something because they didn't in Umbridges class. Still, she was right, it had been fun and all the members, including himself had improved greatly. It would also be a safe space to practice some of his own spells and teach them.

But if the Defense teacher was as good as Lupin in third year maybe he would use the DA time to focus on something else. After all there would also be N.E.W.T.s in two years.

Then he wondered about his birthday this year for the first time. Growing up he never celebrated and only knew the date because he eavesdropped on his Aunt and Uncle when he was younger.

Therefore, his expectations weren't very high. Still, this would be his first birthday ever celebrated. Naturally, he was somewhat excited.

He'd make sure to think about some wishes even thought nothing really crossed his mind. Also, the Weasleys weren't the richest family and they were already doing enough for Harry, he didn't want to exploit them so his list would probably contain only about two things or so.

Then there was London. Harry was really excited to go there with his friends and do some shopping, especially since he really needed some new clothes. The Dursleys almost never let him out to go shopping with them and even if that rare occasion occurred they barely have him any money to buy something and he couldn't really ask them to go to Gringotts. And when he was with the Weasleys he just wanted to spend the days with his friends but since they would be going anyway there wasn't any reason he couldn't go.

Harry lay awake a bit longer thinking about what he would send back and the fell asleep.

After he woke up for the fourth time this night, Harry decided there was no point in staying asleep, even if it was only 5 in the morning. For some reason his nightmares were getting more intense. Maybe Voldemort was trying to reestablish the connection he thought lost after the battle at the DOM. It would probably be useful to restart lessons on Occlumency. However, he would ask for a different teacher. His relationship with Snape hadn't gotten any better over the last year.

Realizing that there was still time before the usual start of his routine, he took out a school of parchment, his feather and some ink to write a letter back to Ginny.

 _Hey Ginny,_

 _I'm doing alright. And before you ask, I really am. Not just saying that to evade the question! It's not necessarily fun here obviously, but it could be worse. Definitely better than last year, no dementors this time!_

 _I'm actually spending my time working out to get fit for quidditch again. There's no way I'm missing out this year. Hopefully you'll let me be seeker again, from what I know you're pretty good! And do you have any idea who the captain will be? With Angelina gone McGonagall will have to find a new one. Probably Katie don't you think? She's been on the team the longest, it would make sense. Whoever it is, they'll have a lot of work. With Ange our lead chaser is gone, Fred and George are not going to be able to be replaced easily and Ron isn't completely established as a keeper yet, after all he has a lot to live up to with Oliver as his predecessor. Also any idea how long Charlie will be staying? I'd definitely want to play with him sometimes, after all he's somewhat of a seeker legend at school right?_

 _Even if he isn't there, I'm excited to come to the Burrow. It'll be nice to hang out with you guys again. I mean, as long as we don't get used for another one of Fred and George's experiments for new products. I miss my friends, it's a bit lonely without you guys around. With Hermione and Ron both there we'll definitely have some fun watching them tiptoe around each other again. Do you think they'll ever get a clue?_

 _Is she gonna be in London with us too? I definitely wanna go, it would be nice if all of us went together don't you think?_

 _And I don't know about the DA yet. It was definitely a nice group and I liked learning alongside everyone. But now that Umbridge is gone there might be no point in doing it anymore. I think it depends on the new Defense teacher as well. If we're actually learning something then we could use the DA to practice those but I won't be able to teach anymore because that stuff is going to be new for me as well. And we'll have to get the professors or at least the headmaster to agree. I'll make a decision after we're back at school, let's see how many others want to continue as well._

 _It was nice to hear from you, Ginny!_

 _See you soon,_

 _Harry_

He rolled up the parchment after finishing the letter. Hedwig would take it when he left for his morning run and went outside.

A couple years ago Harry would have never thought to be writing letters to Ron's little sister, but by now she was a lot more than that. She went with them to the DOM, helped with the DA, temporary replaced him as seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team, was already well-known at school for her Bat-Bogey-Hex and generally pretty popular in her grade. After the events in her first year she didn't give up but decided to start over and since the things have been looking good for her.

At the Quidditch World Cup, she had grown closer to Hermione and last year she became friends with Harry. For some time she had still been that little girl he saved in the Chamber of Secrets and who had a girly crush on him until last year when they had mock-duels in the DA. She had wanted to face him, confident she could hold her own against him.

 **Last year in the Room of Requirement**

"Would the duelists please step forward and greet each other", the voice of Hermione echoed through the hall. She valued proper etiquette.

Harry and Ginny took out their wands, walked towards each other, held them up, brought them back down beside them and bowed.

After having taking their positions on opposites end of a little line they had drawn on the floor, Hermione told them to begin.

Both teenagers waited for a bit and moved around through the room, pushing the spectators a bit further away. Then, Harry cast the first spell.

"Stupefy!", he shouted.

Ginny saw it coming and ducked away, sensing a couple stunners of her own on the way. Harry summoned a shield and rendered the spells ineffective, before using his next spell. After that, the duel got heated.

"Confringo!"

"Protego, Petrificus Totales!"

Harry dodged and casted "Incendio". Ginny was able to evade the attack but was now encircled by a couple flames.

Harry saw his chance and continued with attacks.

"Confringo, Stupefy, Locomotor Morris, Petrificus Totales, Stupefy!"

Ginny's shield broke under the constant pressure of Harry's offensive.

"Expelliarmus!", shouted Harry, trying to finish the duel.

Out of nowhere, Ginny send her own disarming spell on the way. She knew there was no way she could disarm him but it was a good defense, knowing she could stall him for a bit while she came up with a plan for a counterattack.

Harry was surprised at her quick reaction. After all his curses and hexes, he was sure she wouldn't be able to conjure a spell that fast. Impressive, she really was a capable witch.

Their streams of magic stopped after a bit and he waited, curious to see what she would do next.

Ginny sent a spell his way that he didn't quite recognize. It looked like a stunner but there was something different about the movement she performed. Just in case, Harry put up a strong shield, that he was sure would hold whatever she cast.

And it did. But when the spell hit his shield, it exploded into colors instead of dying out like it usually did. That distracted Harry and his sight was diminished for a short moment that Ginny used to cast her next spell.

"Diffindo", Harry heard, but he didn't feel any pressure on his shield. What had she cast it on?

Then, he heard how the chandelier above him was cut off the ceiling and the started falling down on him. Reacting as fast as he could, he casted "Wingardium Leviosa", but the time it took him to conjure the charm and levitate the chandelier out of the way, Ginny used to finish the duel.

"Stupefy", she said, knocking Harry out. There was no use in yelling, she knew she had won the duel.

Watching Harry lie on the floor across from her was a somewhat satisfying sight. She was proud of what she had accomplished over the last years.

Hermione walked over to Harry and casted a quick "Ennervate" and he regained consciousness.

Still a bit dizzy, he took some time standing up and only realized he had lost the duel when he saw Ginny grinning at him.

"That was a smart move, congratulations!", he told her.

The whole room was impressed by what Ginny had done, after all Harry did fight back and not let her win on purpose.

This was the moment that Harry started to see Ginny as her own person and not just as someone who needed to be saved or was someone's little sister. From there on forward, he started respecting her and paying more attention to her and they became friends.

 **Present day**

If he was going to restart the DA this year he would make sure to beat her in a duel. Last year there had been hints of a sort of rivalry between the two of them after they had become friends and he was sure that it would intensify now that Umbridge was gone and students were allowed to do more things again.

He also felt like she was a person that understood him somehow. Not necessarily his personality but the way he wanted to be treated and he appreciated that. She knew that Harry didn't like to be pushed or manipulated so on the one hand her very direct and honest character had to be controlled but it also helped because he knew that she could be counted on.

Harry surely was excited to see her. It really helped that she had grown up and gotten over the girly crush she had on the Boy-Who-Lived. Now that they could talk to each other and appreciate each other for the actual person the were and not what they represented, it had gotten a lot better.

Harry wondered how their relationship would develop over the next year while he gave Hedwig the mail and started running.

About half-way through he realized that he had completely forgotten to write down his birthday wishes. Not that it was particularly important to him to get those things but he knew that the Weasleys wanted to give him something.

At first Harry considered running after Hedwig but she was too far away by now. He would just have to wait until one of the owls came back.

Then, Harry Potter continued with his daily routine without anymore interesting or unusual things happening.

 **A/N: Thanks to those who are supporting this story by reviewing or otherwise!**

 **I didn't really know how to write the duel so I went with my gut but please tell me if you like this kind of writing or give me suggestions of what else I could try if you think there's a better way to do it.**

 **Also I'll be inventing a couple spells myself (hinted at with Harry creating spells). If you have any cool ideas (realistic ones please) that you would like to see in a fanfic you can message me.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer** :

I do not own any of the characters from the original Harry Potter books/movies created by J. . However, there will be a few characters of my own imagination in this fanfiction. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 4: Leaving**

A couple days passed since Harry had responded to Ginny. Considering that she probably only read his letter a few days ago and it would take Hedwig a day or two to return to Privet Drive if Ginny was to write back, a letter was a bit unnecessary. They could just talk when he was at the Burrow soon enough. Ginny probably thought the same.

But since he would soon leave to go to the Weasleys, they were probably wondering what to get him for his birthday and they probably wanted to get his presents before he arrived. Well, at least Mrs. Weasley would want to.

But then, just before sunset, Errol arrived. Luckily enough, Harry was outside when he saw the owl. With an animal like Errol, there was no telling how the Dursleys would react if he was inside there house, or even just if they saw him.

The owl seemed to be carrying only a single letter. Well, Fred & George wrote him not too long ago about their shop, Molly had sent him a letter a bit more than a week ago, so it left only Arthur. Probably some information about how and at what time they would pick him up and most likely he would ask about his birthday wishes again.

Harry signaled Errol come down onto his arm after he had taken the letter. It was better if he took the owl inside himself instead of letting it fly. He didn't want to get in trouble now after managing to stay out of it for the entire summer so far.

Back up in his room, Harry took the scroll of parchment from Errol and started reading.

Just like expected, it gave him some information about how the Weasleys were going to pick him up.

Arthur, who also wrote the letter, and Ron would come with the car and take him with them. For a moment Harry wondered how Mr. Weasley had a car again, but the next line explained it. After the incident with his old car, the Ministry decided to give him another one of the exact same model. The only difference was an added enchantment. Nobody under the age of 17 could drive it. Considering what happened last time someone had done that, that seemed reasonable and Arthur signed the contract. Also, a car wouldn't raise a lot of suspicion, but as soon as they were out of sight of any muggles they could fly to the Burrow so it wouldn't be a very long journey. That sounded good to Harry.

Next they told him that he would get picked up in the morning, for which he was very grateful. It meant less time with the Dursleys and more time with the Weasleys, which was perfectly fine to him. He would pack his things the evening before, so in two days.

Then, Arthur also informed him that Ginny got his letter but they decided that she wouldn't write another one but wait a bit until he came to their house. They would also keep Hedwig there. So everything that he anticipated, just like the next thing. A reminder that they wanted to get him a present and that it would be great if he could tell them what he wanted.

Nothing surprising over all, except that apparently Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks would be at the Burrow too when he came. He was happy that he would see them again, just as much as he hoped that Tonks was fine. She got hit pretty bad in the battle at the DOM.

Harry's excitement grew after reading the letter, because it felt like he would be leaving very soon, which indeed he was.

Knowing that there wasn't a lot of time left, he started writing his reply, telling the Weasleys that he understood how they would get him, as well as that he would be ready. Finally, he also wrote down his two birthday wishes.

Errol was on his way only ten minutes after he had arrived. Even though the owl always had problems to find the entrance to a house, it was very fast. Harry assumed that his letter would arrive at the Burrow sometime during the next day or two.

He would tell the Dursleys the day before he left that he was leaving for this summer. They probably would be happy that he left but on the other hand very disturbed by the presence of other wizards at their house.

Harry still had a couple books left to read, some of them important for the creation of spells or other things he was interested in. He would have to take those to the Weasleys and finish reading there, even though he would probably end up spending time with them instead. There would be other times to read, for now he just wanted to have a bit of fun and see his friends again.

Harry went to bed early that night, knowing that he could use the extra sleep because nights at the Weasleys were always a bit shorter.

 **The next day at the Burrow**

"Wake up already! It's almost noon.", Ron heard someone shouting.

"Calm down, let me sleep!", he mumbled back, pulling his blanket over his head.

Ginny sighed deeply before she took the blanket away from Ron.

Her brother immediately stood up and nobody could have told he wanted to sleep a second ago.

"Why are you doing this?", he yelled at his sister.

"Harry is coming in two days and we still have to prepare everything and buy his gifts. I thought as his best friend you'd like to help!", she shouted back.

"Oi, we have enough time don't we? No reason to pull me out of the bed like that... but alright, I'll be down in a minute."

Ginny understood that he wanted to sleep, but he was already doing enough of that. He shouldn't be getting mad, after all she only woke him up because their mother asked her too.

She stepped out of his room and went downstairs so that he could change. When she walked down the stairs, she could hear her mother shouting.

"Will you two stop creating the mess and help cleaning it up for once?", Molly Weasley asked fiercely.

Ginny shook her head and grinned when she heard that. The twins were unleashing their chaotic side once again. As soon as she stepped down from the last stair, some kind of ball stopped hovering over their heads and exploded, splashing orange color all over the walls.

Then, when Ginny entered the kitchen, the twins pointed at her and said synchronized: "Ginny's fault!"

"Mum, you know I would never do something like that", she said in her most innocent voice ever.

"Right...", her mother replied suspiciously.

After sending a glare to her two mischievous brothers, she asked if she could help out somewhere. That promptly earned her a smile and the twins a comment about how they should act more like their sisters.

"Ginny, you can clean up the garden, I'm sure Harry and all of you will spend some time there."

Fred and George were about to step out of the kitchen when they heard their mothers voice behind them once more.

"Oh no, you two will help her"

"Fine, mum", came from both at the same time.

"And don't even think about playing a prank on your sister!"

After mumbling another fine, the three of them went outside to clean up the garden.

When Ginny picked up a pair of garden scissors so she could cut the bushes and plants, and her brothers didn't make any attempt to do the same she was confused.

"Why aren't you two helping?"

Fred was the first to reply: "Oh we are, but we don't need those scissors."

George continued: "See sis, we can use magic since we are of age so we'll just sit down here and let our wands do the work."

"You two are impossible", Ginny responded shaking her head.

With grinning faces, the two brothers started working and after realizing she didn't really have a choice but to let them win this one, she started cutting branches from bushes as well.

The same situation occurred when they needed to water the plans. Ginny had to take a watering can while Fred and George simply cast Aguamenti. She knew she would do the exact same if she was allowed to use magic but they would still have to pay for making fun of her like that. Every time she turned around and looked at them, they put their tongues out.

After a while Ron joined them, still looking a bit annoyed at her.

Fred and George immediately left their work to go tease him.

"Hey, little brother, how was your sleep?"

"When we walked by your room..."

"We thought we heard you say..."

"Hermiones name in your sleep..."

"Did you have some nice dream last night?"

Ron's face went red as tomato after they said that. There was no way they heard him say that, if he even did, which he didn't know for sure. Nevertheless, it made him feel caught.

Ginny couldn't help but laugh at Ron's situation. Seeing him embarrassed like that was just another clear sign of how much he liked Hermione. She just hoped he would do something about it.

Her thoughts then went to Dean and what he was doing at this moment. If she was honest, he hadn't been on her mind a lot since they left school. Beside a couple snog sessions, their relationship didn't really exist. They didn't hang out more than before and she didn't feel that close to him. Still dating was fun and he was funny so she wrote him a couple times. The thing that bothered her was that he only replied once.

The sound of Ron hitting Fred with a stick pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Ron, violence is never the answer.", she teased her brother, getting back into the conversation of her brothers.

"Oh, but a Bat-Bogey-Hex does?", he replied, making a valid point.

"Well...", she said with a mischievous smile.

Knowing what his sister was hinting at, he quickly dropped the stick and went back to work, forgetting entirely that she wasn't allowed to do magic.

The day went on as the family continued to do chores. Arthur had to buy gas for the car as he would have to drive normally for a while and wouldn't be allowed to fly. Molly bought groceries and prepared dinner for the family. Ginny and Ron readied their rooms for the arrival of Hermione and Harry. Charlie was helping Fred and George to clean the house.

Then, when the Weasleys were enjoying their dinner, Errol flew in, carrying Harry's letter. Arthur took it and read it out loud to the rest of the family. After he was done, Molly said: "It looks like he is prepared. Let's get the gifts for him tomorrow. Fred and George, you're coming with your dad and I. Charlie you'll be in charge."

Ginny was about to ask why the twins were accompanying them and not Ron and her, but then she realized that her mother probably didn't trust them at home when she wasn't there, even with Charlie around, which made her chuckle slightly. She looked over Ron who looked a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get he presents for his best friends himself but seemed to accept that arguing wouldn't change that.

After dinner, everybody went up to their rooms. Ginny stayed up for a bit. She was excited that her friends would come over and it would also mean she would get distracted a bit. Even with Fred and George here she was forced to think about Dean once in a while and that always made her feel a bit sad. Hermione might be able to help her with that. Deciding that it would be good to get some sleep, after all the next nights might be a little shorter, Ginny Weasley closer her eyes.

 **The next day at Privet Drive**

Harry just finished his work out when he heard Petunia calling upstairs for lunch. Even though he knew it wasn't meant for him, after all lunch wasn't a necessary meal so he didn't get to have it prepared and eat it.

Still in his sweaty sports clothes, he walked down the stairs behind Dudley. When his cousin walked into dining room, he wrinkled his nose and asked: "What's smelling so bad in here?".

After turning around and seeing Harry, Dudley said satisfyingly: "Well, that explains it!"

Ignoring the comment, Harry walked up to his Aunt and Uncle who were already sitting at the table. However, before he could open his mouth and talk to them about what he wanted, Vernon was already ranting.

"How dare you come in here at this time? You know very well that you haven't deserved the privilege to eat with us at this hour! And if that wasn't enough you come smelling in here like a pig. Now what do you have to say? Be quick about it so we can continue living our lives!"

Harry just sighed, after all something like this was nothing unusual.

"My friends will be picking me up tomorrow morning."

"And before you ask", he continued, "they will be coming in a normal car to not raise any suspicion so you have nothing to worry about.

His uncle seemed to think about that for a while, but decided was too happy that Harry would be leaving soon to annoy him with an argument.

"Fine, boy, but make sure that they aren't doing anything magical!", he said the last word with disgust.

Harry, rather happy with the outcome, turned around, walked upstairs and took a shower. He felt fresh again, and now that he cleared it up with his relatives without any problem, even more ready to leave.

After finishing to read another two books, Harry started to pack up his things. Unfortunately he couldn't use a reducing charm to make his things smaller. Not that he needed the extra space but it would be useful.

His trunk was first filled with the few clothes he had. They didn't really take up a lot of space. Knowing that his books wouldn't all fit in there, he places a candle on his window.

Only a few seconds later, Dobby apparated into his room.

"What can Dobby do for Harry Potter today?"

"Hello Dobby, how are you, I...", before Harry could continue he was interrupted.

"Harry Potter asks how I am? I... I... I am good, sir. But even more, I am touched."

"Ok, calm down Dobby. It's nice to hear that you're fine." Harry couldn't help but chuckle while saying this. He considered continuing by telling Dobby not to tear up every time he was asked how he was but then decided against it, knowing the house-elve would punish himself for it because he thought he had disappointed Harry.

Instead, he told Dobby about his needs.

"I'm leaving to stay at the Weasleys for the rest of the summer from tomorrow onwards. Can you take the bigger pile of books and apparate back to Hogwarts with them? I won't be able to take them with me."

"Of course, sir, it would be an honor"

So, while Harry continued packing his things, Dobby apparated in and out of his room, luckily being quiet enough so the Dursleys didn't hear him, and brought the books he already read back to Hogwarts.

"All the books are back at your school now, sir. Dobby put them on a bench next to the library. Harry Potter will have to bring them back inside himself as house elves are not allowed to enter the library."

"That's okay Dobby, thank you for your help."

"It was a pleasure to help sir!", the house elf said before dissaparating.

Harry finished packing the rest of things at. He started with the picture from the original Order of The Phoenix, forcing himself not to look at Sirius. He put it in between four books he hadn't read yet, making sure it would stay flat and not rip when inside.

Deciding to take a little break and take some fresh air before finishing up, Harry went outside the Dursleys house one last time before he would leave it tomorrow. He thought back to all the other times he left it.

When his relatives didn't want to let him go to Hogwarts and Hagrid came looking for him, or when he was rescued by Ron and the twins or the Knight Bus after he has run out. These first three times were definitely the most exciting. Compared to that, his broom ride last year was rather simple. But maybe that was a good thing.

Harry went back inside and tiptoed into the kitchen to get some leftover of the Dursleys dinner. He took the plate upstairs with him and ate the food. It made him even more exited to leave when he thought of the meals at the Weasleys. It wasn't just the amazing food Molly cooked but also the atmosphere that he missed when he was at Privet Drive.

Deciding that thinking about it was useless, after all he would be gone tomorrow already, Harry went back to packing his things.

After a few more minutes, he finished, putting his very own spellbook, containing ideas for his very own spells, on the top and closed his trunk. Closing it was also some sort of symbolic gesture for him, signalizing that another dreadful period of time at the Dursleys had passed.

With all his things packed away, there wasn't anything to do anymore, so Harry went to sleep. This night, his nightmares were at an all time minimum and replaced by nice dreams about what he and his friends would do at the Burrow.

The next morning

Waking up after a rather peaceful sleep, Harry took a quick shower, and changed into the pack of clothes he left outside for today.

Not wanting to risk a change of heart of his uncle, he walked down to the kitchen as quietly as possible to make himself some breakfast one last time.

After finishing that, he went back to his room and stared outside the window for a good hour until he saw a blue Ford Anglia rolling up the street.

Harry ran downstairs and opened the door, not caring anymore whether or not he was too loud even if Dudley was stills sleeping.

Ron stepped out of the car first, walking towards his best friend and hugging him shortly while they patted each other on the back a couple times.

"Hey mate, how you been?"

"Could be worse actually. But still, I'd rather not spend another second here."

After getting an understanding nod from Ron, who looked at the Dursleys house with great discontent, Harry went on to shake Arthur's hand.

"Hello Mr. Weasley, how are you?"

"I'm good Harry, it's nice to see you again. I see you don't have your trunk yet, do you want me to levitate it downstairs?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I think it is best if I can get it myself, without the use of magic."

Ignoring Arthur's disapproving frown, Harry went back inside and got his trunk from his room. It might be heavy, but carrying it was still more pleasant than to have one of his relatives rant about how unnatural magic was and that he should leave the house quickly unless he wanted there to be consequences.

Ron helped his best friend lifting his trunk into the car and then sat beside him and on the back bench while Arthur started the car.

Harry looked back one more time and saw his uncle and aunt standing in front of the window, smiling as they saw him leave. Ignoring their rudeness and focussing on the enjoyable part of summer ahead, he turned his head back around before Arthur took a turn, leaving Privet Drive behind them.

 **A/N:**

 **I hope you liked the first scene at the Burrow and look forward to seeing more, now with Harry there as well.**

 **Also, I wanna thank everyone who is supporting this story, I really appreciate it. Please continue to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Decided to post another chapter quickly because it took me more than a week to post the last one. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 5: The real summer**

"So, how's your summer been mate?", Ron asked his best friend as soon as they left Privet Drive.

"Pretty good actually. At least no dementor attack this year.", Harry responded and they both chuckled lightly.

After some conversation about what they did this summer, Arthur interrupted their conversation.

"Harry, I got to ask you something."

"No problem, what is it?"

"Why did you not want me to help you with your trunk earlier? After all your family knows that magic exists."

"It's just better if they don't see it."

"But why? Your aunt knows from your mother, doesn't she?

"Well, yes. But that doesn't mean she likes it. Look, my relatives might know that magic exists but they hate it."

"But why would they hate it? It's completely..."

Harry interrupted him: "They just do, alright? Sorry, I didn't mean to sound aggressive. I appreciate the concern, I really do but let me deal with them. You wouldn't understand."

After that, an awkward silence lay in the air for most of the ride back.

Harry didn't like being in that situation. The Weasleys were the people who accepted him most of all and he felt bad for turning down Arthur so harshly. But the Dursleys wouldn't care for explanations, no matter how good they were. They didn't like magic, they didn't accept it and they would always take that out on him. Nobody could change something about it. Trying would only make it worse.

He knew that Mr. Weasleys studied Muggles at work, but studying regular people and understanding the Dursleys was something completely different. Even though Harry didn't know many other Muggles because his relatives never really allowed him to have friends, but he assumed that most of them weren't like them. Hermiones family surely wasn't like that. He had also heard stories from other muggle-born witches and wizards or half-bloods who had excellent families.

After the car had started to fly however, any thought about the Dursleys disappeared. He looked down from a flying car, Ron and his best friends with him. Harry felt his wand in his hand. This is where he belonged.

This emotion increased when the Burrow was in sight. It was around noon when the car landed on the driveway and mad it's way to the house of the Weasleys.

When they all exited the car, the awkwardness disappeared momentarily. A big smile appeared on Harry's face and his best friend noticed that. Ron himself couldn't help but grin a bit, knowing his time would be even better when they were both here.

Harry usually spend the summer without worrying. Ron just hoped it would stay the same this year, with what had happened with Sirius and all. He knew he should be there for his best friend, but he also knew that they wouldn't talk about it. They talked about a lot of things, but they didn't ask about the deep emotions of the other. If one of them ever needed to talk, the other one would be there. Unless that happened however, they lived their lives no questions asked, knowing that would be the most fun. It was some kind of silent agreement they had worked out over the years and it seemed to be pretty solid.

Also, considering that every year at Hogwarts basically meant new dangers for them and Hermione, Harry enjoyed the time at the Burrow and tried to make the best out of it. And if his best friend wasn't worried, Ron knew he could be plenty fun. The pranks they both played were rather inventive, but not quite the twins level. But that would need serious dedication, which they weren't willing to give.

Ron got knocked out of his thoughts when his father opened the door. Almost immediately his mother launched herself at Harry and embraced him in a tight hug.

"Mom, let the boy breathe", Fred said.

After a deep breath, Harry greeted all of them.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley, it's good to see you again! Thank you for all the letters, they really made my summer better. Fred, George, how's the shop going?"

Nobody answered because Harry seemed like he was looking for something. After a couple seconds he realized what, or better who, was missing.

"Ehh, where's Ginny?"

Fred and George exchanged a look with a suspicious sparkle in their eyes but didn't say anything.

"Ginny, come down, Harry's here! And we'll be having lunch soon!", Mrs Weasley said.

With a quick look at Harry she continued: "Sorry, I don't know why she isn't down yet, dear. We'll eat right away."

"Oh it isn't a problem, we can eat later"

"No we can't. Look at you, dear, you look like you haven't eaten in weeks... Ginevra Weasley, will you come down now?!"

Hearing the rage in her mothers voice, Ginny got up from her bed and started to make her way downstairs.

Why did her stupid brothers have to play a prank on her exactly on the day Harry came?

Not that she minded him seeing her like that, he would probably just have a good laugh. It didn't make her uncomfortable either, after all they were friends.

It was her mothers rage she was afraid of. She wanted everything to be perfect when guests arrived, and Ginny definitely was not perfect.

But, she knew she would have to show herself eventually. And she wanted to see Harry again.

As expected, Harry and Ron tried to hold back their laughter when they saw, but soon enough, burst out. Fred and George were grinning at each other. She would have to kill them sooner or later. Her father just looked surprised but her mother had fury in her eyes.

"What. Happened. To. Your. Hair?", the voice of Molly Weasley was cold.

"Well, what does it look like? It's green! You can thank Fred and George for that", she said dryly. If they wanted to have fun at her dispense, they would at least pay for it.

The smiles on the twins face vanished immediately and they started squeaking with voices dripping fake innocence.

"But mom..."

"You know we would never..."

"Ever..."

"Ever..."

"Do something like that..."

"To our lovely sister..."

"Well I can't be sure of anything so I'll let it pass this time. But should I see any more of this kind of stuff, there will be consequences! Oh and Fred, George, please start making the table."

"It would be our pleasure mother dear", they responded in sync.

When leaving to the kitchen, they walked by Ginny and whispered in each of her ear.

"You can't prove anything."

But Ginny didn't plan on proving anything and exposing them. Oh no, they would suffer the same way she did.

"Sorry you had witness that, dear", Molly said directed to Harry.

Still recovering from his laughter, he responded: "That's no problem at all."

"Well then, I shall go back to preparing lunch. It will be done in a few minutes, why don't you all sit down at the table? Arthur, come and help me please.

After her parents left, it was Harry's and Ron's time to walk by her. The former greeted her.

"Hey Ginny, how are you doing?", he asked.

Happy that he seemed to ignore her current condition, she replied: "Pretty good, what about you?"

"I'm good too, thank you for asking. Oh, and by the way, your hair looks beautiful." He tried to stay serious while saying that, but couldn't hold it together, just like his best friend.

After they left, she mumbled to herself: "And there goes that...", before following them to the dining table.

Harry felt his mouth watering when he saw the food Mrs. Weasley had cooked. Even though the food he made for himself hadn't been bad, it wasn't anything compared to this. He always wondered where she learned to cook like that. Maybe it was just the experience, after all she had been feeding kids since about 25 years now.

Everybody sat down and a few minutes into the dinner, Charlie joined them.

"Hey everyone, I'm back. Mom, this smells delicious." After a look around the room he continued : "Hi Harry. Having a good summer?"

"Pretty good, what about you?"

"Great, enjoying the family time"

Everybody watched as the two exchanged their first words. For some reason Charlie seemed a bit cool.

They all continued to eat after the next Weasley brother had joined and talked a bit about the summer so far and what they were going to do next. Hermione would join them in London and then come back to the Burrow after. Harry also told them he would have to get some money from Gringotts and exchange it before they left. It took some serious convincing to get Mrs. Weasley to let him pay for himself. She said he was still young and adults should pay for these kind of things. But Harry had plenty of money to spare and thought that it wouldn't be right to use the little the Weasley had for himself as well.

That was the final topic of the lunch discussion. After cleaning the table, Ron and Harry left up to their room.

"So what are we gonna do first, mate?", the redhead asked his best friend.

"Well I was thinking of playing a prank on Ginny but well…"

"Ha Ha. I'm sure we'll get another chance to do that. Maybe we can play one on Hermione too."

"You would play a prank on Hermione? Don't you think she'll be mad at you for doing something so utterly ridiculous?"

"Yeah maybe. But why would that make a difference?"

"Oh I don't kow. Maybe she just wouldn't help you with homework for once."

But Harry thought about something entirely different. His best friend really had no emtional or romantic intelligence whatsoever, at least not in this case.

"Well she'll just have to get over it. If my grades go down a bit, I can live with that as long as I'm playing Quidditch"

"As if you would make the team Ron!"

That comment earned Harry a hit from his best friends pillow. He immidiately retaliated and pillow fight broke out between the two of them.

"Well you should be watching out too, Harry. What if I decide to try out for seeker?", they heard Ginny's voice. When they turned around, they saw her standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Really guys, I hear Quidditch and wanted to ask if you wanted to play a bit and what do I find? One boy who is about to turn 16 and another one who already is. Even worse, that's a friend and my brother." She laughed at them.

"At least we're not the ones with green hair.", Harry replied with a smirk.

"Watch out Potter, we can still make that happen." He knew she wasn't joking about that. She went on: "So, are you coming or not? Fred and George are already waiting."

"What do you say mate? Let's get in some practice before we're back at school"

Ginny left and the boys changed quickly into Quidditch robes. Harry borrowed some from Ron since his were at school. He didn't think about packing them when he left to go to the Dursleys. After all he definitely wasn't playing at Privet Drive.

The "pitch" the Weasleys had was basically just a big field of gras and some hoops on a couple old tree trunks. Harry just realized he didn't have his Firebolt. As on cue, Charlie returned with broomsticks from the shed behind the Burrow.

"Here, take this one. Not what you're used to I imagine but it's all we have. We only have a few old, spare broomsticks and Bill and Percy never played Quidditch"

Harry noticed how everyone of the Weasleys present, except Charlie, flinched when he mentioned Percy's name. He kept a straight face. That reminded him a little bit of himself.

"Don't worry about it, it'll do just fine. So, how are we gonna do this? 3 on 3?"

"Well we Charlie and Harry can play chaser like Ginny maybe", Ron suggested.

"Yeah but then one team would have more offensive players than the other one. And we have one keeper and two beaters. That's three defensive players as well...", Fred intervened.

"Well, if Ron could play chaser as well we could play two chaser plus a beater on each team? It'll be more flying for everyone if everyone defends and attack together but well...", George said.

"Or, we can just have the chasers attacking and beaters and keeper defending. It wouldn't be a real game but everyone could play what they want. Well, if Harry and Charlie agree to play chaser with me", Ginny brought in,

"Sure, seeker wouldn't really make sense anyway.", Harry replied.

"Fine with me too. You'll have to help us out though Ginny.", Charlie said before flying off in the air.

Ginny's oldest brother present struck Harry as a very straight forward person. If any of her other siblings had asked her for help, especially the twins and Ron, they would've never heard the end of it. That was not the case with Charlie. His presence seemed to be demanding respect, but that apparently wasn't his personality. He didn't ask for it, his behavior simply led people to do it. Harry admired that.

A few seconds after he had finished the thought, the Quaffle was already in the air and Ginny caught it. Instantly, Fred hit one of the bludgers towards her. Taking a closer look, Harry realized they weren't out of tin but out of some sort of rubber. It surely would hurt as well, but not as much as a normal one. Probably Mrs. Weasleys idea.

Ginny dodged the ball but apparently George had predicted her trajectory and just after evading the first one, the second one was already close to her. Realizing there was no way she could continue heading for the hoops without getting hit, she passed the ball to Harry and dove.

He caught the Quaffle with a little a bit of difficulty as he still had to adjust to the size of the ball. That wasn't the only problem. The broom just wasn't his Firebolt. He didn't expected that of course but it was still a different feeling he would have to get used to. And adding to that, he didn't really know how to play chaser.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out...", he mumbled to himself while taking up speed.

Soon, the feeling of pure freedom he got while flying was back and he didn't think anymore, he just flew.

Before long, the twins were on each side of him, ready to each hit a bludger towards him. Apparently they were using their wands and the summoning charm to get them back. Made sense. As if they really would fly all the was over the pitch to get them back or wait a long time to get attacked by them. That wouldn't really lead to a good game.

When they hit the two rubber balls towards him, he flew straight up in an effort to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately, the two beaters were cleaver in their use of the bludgers. The followed him further up into the sky while constantly hitting the bludgers towards him. Since he was between them, the balls were getting hit from one twin to the other and he was caught in the middle. That wouldn't last long.

Luckily, he saw Charlie flying underneath him. Fred and George were too occupied to see their brother so Harry dropped the Quaffle right into Charlie's hands. Before the twins could realize what had happened, their older sibling was already heading straight for the hoops.

"Wow, he sure is fast.", Harry thought out loud.

Charlie could probably hold his own against Harry even if the latter had his Firebolt. Really impressive speed.

"Try your best shot!", Charlie heard Ron shout.

"Fool", he said quietly and threw the Quaffle towards his left.

"I think you should learn to aim a bit better.", Ron bragged carelessly, still moving in front of the left hoop just in case the ball would somehow manage to come near it,

"Think again!", his brother replied with a grin.

Right in that moment, Ginny appeared under the Quaffle and and hit it right in the now empty center hoop.

After it went in, she flew past Ron and teased him.

"Didn't see that coming brother?"

He was baffled for a bit but quickly caught himself again.

"What can I say, you're so small, I must've overlooked you. Next one won't get in."

"We'll see about that."

A bit further away, Charlie and Harry were talking.

"Thanks for helping me out back there", the younger of the two said.

"My pleasure, it's a miracle those two didn't hit you."

"A bit longer and they would've caught up to me and my small turns wouldn't have helped anymore."

"True. It's not nice getting chased by these things is it?"

"For sure! I'll definitely stay seeker. But respect to all the chasers who endure that every time."

"Thanks Harry!", Ginny joined their conversation.

"Yeah, wouldn't be for me either.", Charlie said.

Before one or them could say something else, they heard the twins yelling at each other.

"Hey George, do you think they will just continue babbling over their like grandmas or they're gonna continue playing?"

"I don't know Fred, maybe they want to have some tea before going again. Or they're just scared of us!"

"You wish!", Ginny shouted at them.

With that, she took the Quaffle and headed straight forward.

Counting on that, Fred hit a bludger towards her. For some reason George wasn't beside him anymore but Ginny wasn't too concerned about that.

She dived underneath the rubber ball, only to feel it hit her back a few seconds later, pressing her body onto the broom. Even if it wasn't a real bludger, the pain still forced her to close her eyes, grit her teeth and lose control of her broom instantly.

Luckily, a moment later, she regained control but continued to head towards the ground. After jumping of her broom, she shouted to the boys: "Don't worry about me, I'm just taking a quick break, go on!"

Harry grabbed the slowly sinking Quaffle out of the air and headed towards the hoops with Charlie on his right. Both of them pressed themselves down, trying to pick up speed.

"I have an idea!", Harry heard Charlie yelling through the wind.

"Go on!", he shouted back.

"Remember what the twins did with the bludgers earlier? We can do the same thing with the Quaffle. Just pass it back and forth between us and they'll have to hit us both. Whoever has it when the bludgers are getting closer is gonna fly through the middle and try to score!"

"Alright, lets do it!"

The two started passing the Quaffle between them as fast as they could and continued flying towards the hoops.

"Any idea what they're trying to do Fred?", George asked.

"Nope, but it doesn't matter.", his brother responded.

"We'll just hit them both!", they said in sync.

A few moments later and a bit further away, Charlie shouted to Harry: "Here they come!"

When the bludgers were only a few meters away, Harry clamped the Quaffle underneath his arm and moved a bit to the right, flying right through the two rubber balls. He was fast enough so they would hunt Charlie for a bit, giving him time to try to score.

Remembering what Charlie had done earlier, Harry moved a bit to the left, trying to lure Ron away, and then hit the Quaffle to the right hoop.

Unfortunately, his best friend didn't fall for it and punched the Quaffle straight down and then dove to catch it.

"Nice try!", Ron shouted.

"Thanks.", Harry responded with an unsure smile.

"If it had been all three of us we would've scored.", he heard Ginny saying from behind him. She was back on her broom.

"Well let's show them that!", Charlie said and they all went on to try to score again.

The Weasleys and Harry continued to play Quiddirch for quite some time. After a while though, they started to get exhausted. However, the sport dominated most of their day. Especially Ginny, Ron and Harry were talking about it most of the time. Either about their game earlier or some other previous games at Hogwarts or about next year. They were really excited to find out who was going to be captain. Harry was getting a negative vibe from Ginny during their conversation and he was starting to get concerned. At Quiddich everything had seemed fine. Apparently, nobody else noticed either.

After dinner, Charlie stayed downstairs to talk to his parents, while Fred and George left to go their room and the three others went up to Ron's room. They continued to talk a bit about sport or school and other casual things when Ron decided to look for something to eat again.

"Ginny, are you alright?", Harry asked.

"Yes, yes, don't worry Harry."

"Well, don't give me a reason to worry then, I can see something's bothering you.", he said with a disarming smile.

"Ok, something's up. Dean just broke up.", she said monotone.

"Oh Ginny I'm so sorry what happened?", Harry was genuinely surprised and concerned. The couple had been getting along very well.

"Apparently he met someone where he lives. A 7th year. I mean I can't blame him, we have been getting along, yes, but also we just seem kind of stuck. And Mom forbid me to tell him where I was, in case the letters got intercepted by Death Eaters. So I talked to him a bit but he seemed otherwise busy...", her voice had a very sad swing with it.

"Ginny, it's gonna be alright you know. I don't really know what to do, but if you need something I'm here.", Harry was being genuine. He didn't know a lot about girls and how to deal with their feelings but Ginny seemed fragile right now. Also, it wasn't like the battle at the DOM hadn't taken a toll on her.

"You don't have to do anything, Harry. Just hold me for a bit.", and with that she leaned into a hug.

At first Harry felt a bit awkward. Him and Ginny had grown closer but it seemed like they had reached a new level. He barely ever hugged someone in an emotional situation like this. After a few seconds though he realized that it didn't really matter what he thought about it, Ginny needed a person to feel close to right now, after all Dean just left a hole.

A minute or two later, she sat back up, wiping some tears from her face. When he saw her sit there like that, Harry saw that she was vulnerable. But that wasn't the only thing he saw. She looked pretty. Even though she still had green hair and her eyes were a bit red right now, and she had that face everybody gets when they cry, she still looked cute.

When Ron came back in the room, he immediately banished these thoughts. Ginny tried to put on a tough face, apparently she wasn't ready to tell her brother just yet, and excused herself saying she wanted to sleep.

After she left, Harry and Ron ate some snacks and state duo talking a bit before going back to sleep.

Ginny's problem had left a little dent in his otherwise perfect day, but he wouldn't let that bother him.

Harry Potter was finally having some fun his summer.

 **A/N: First of I want to ask if you were able to imagine the Quidditch scene. I'll definitely write some more game scenes as well so let me know whether or not you liked it.**

 **Apart apart of that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave some reviews.**

 **And thanks for the support so far!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: London**

"Ready to go, Harry?", Ron asked.

"Yeah, just give me one more second I'll be right down", he replied.

They just had breakfast and were now preparing to leave to go to London. Harry needed his wand to verify his identity but he already had that on him. The thing he was looking for was the list where he had written down the things he needed. No point in going shopping if you didn't know what you needed in his opinion.

Apparently that was different for Muggles who went shopping in London, Hermione had told him once. They didn't necessarily go because the needed something, but because they wanted things or simply to look.

After grabbing his piece of paper he had written his list on, Harry went down the stairs to the fireplace where everyone was waiting with some floo powder beside them.

As he looked around the room, his eyes rested on Ginny for a bit longer. Her hair was red again and the thought that she was pretty crossed his mind again before he banished it quickly.

"So, now that everyone's here, I'm gonna explain how this is going to work so listen carefully!", Mr. Weasley started.

"First off, we're going to floo to Gringotts. Now that Fudge has finally admitted, that Voldemort is back, there will be a lot of Aurors there so there is no reason to be nervous. After we picked up some money and changed it to pounds, we'll floo to the Leaky Cauldron and from there on we can all go to the stores."

Arthur took a break and Mrs. Weasley continued.

"We want you to stay in pairs of two at least! Charlie you can go in your own if you want to. Just in case something should happen, we can never be too safe these days, we made these portkeys that will transport you back to the Leaky Cauldron. Use them immediately should something happen."

She gave each of her children and Harry a small, wooden spoon. Then her husband continued.

"Do not lose those! Finally we want you back at the Leaky Cauldron at 4pm the latest. There's enough clocks around London and most Muggles carry a watch so ask them if necessary. Any questions?"

"When will we meet Hermione?", Ron asked.

Ginny and Harry shared a look and Molly answered.

"She will be at the Leaky Cauldron. Her parents already gave her Muggle money."

Fred and George were already grabbing powder when Charlie held them back.

"No playing pranks on Muggles, understood? That's unnecessary attention!"

"Yes, mom.", they said in sync. Their brother didn't seem to happy being called that because that probably meant they wouldn't take him seriously but decided to drop it.

"Alright, we'll go from youngest to the oldest. Remember, speak loud and clearly.", Arthur said with a sidelook to Harry, remembering their trip to Diagon Ally in his second year and Ginny took some powder, spoke out "Gringotts" she was gone.

 **At Gringotts**

Ginny stepped out of one of the fire places at Gringotts and straightened her clothes. It wasn't really necessary but she had gotten used to do it. A couple moments later, Harry appeared behind her.

"Oh so you managed to arrive where you wanted this time!", she said mockingly.

"It's been fours years now, can't you just forget about it?", he replied pretending to be annoyed.

"Never", she grinned at him.

After everyone else had come out as well, they proceeded to get their money.

Harry and Arthur went to talk to one goblin, while the rest went to another one. Usually the Weasleys would go all together, but Harry needed someone to help him, after all it had been some time since he last come to the bank.

"Ok so all you have to do is say your name and why you are here. From there on, just do whatever the goblin tells you.", Mr. Weasley told Harry as they walked up to one of them.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter. I'd like to pick up some money from my vault and change it to Muggle money."

"Your wand for identification please." The goblin mustered him carefully.

"Ehh, yes, sure." Harry pulled out his wand and gave it to the goblin. At first he was a bit surprised that he was asked to present his wand, usually everybody recognized him. After a few seconds he realized it wasn't because they didn't know who he was but to protect theft from other wizard or witches who used polyjuice potion or were Metamorphmagi.

"Please come with me." The goblin stood up and Harry followed with Mr. Weasley behind him.

The way to his vault wasn't long so it didn't take long to arrive there. When they entered, Harry gave Arthur a quick look. He was astonished at the amount of money and other valuable items. This made Harry a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't like the Weasleys wanted his money but they could always use some.

When looking around the room, he noticed something else

"There seems to be more in here than last time."

"Yes, indeed there is. The new things and added money comes from Sirius Blacks inheritance."

Harry shuddered when his godfather was mentioned. He didn't want his money. It would never replace Sirius. And it's not like he needed it anyways. He would need to think of something to do with it.

"Oh ok. I wasn't informed that i received any money from my godfather."

"There is a letter with that information and with the details of what you received waiting for you at Hogwarts."

"Thank you. I'll take 40 galleons and please change them to Muggle currency. Please don't touch any money from the inheritance "

"Of course." The goblin began to pack up money but looked a bit irritated. He probably didn't understand why Harry would not want to use the extra money he had. Material things were a lot more valuable to goblins than they were to wizards and witches.

A short while later, Harry and Arthur left his vault again and went back to the entrance hall and got around 200£ from the goblin.

"Oh you are done too?" Harry heard Ron from the fire place.

"Pssht Ron!", his mother scolded him. It was usually very quiet in the bank and Ron apparently had disturbed the peace of the goblins.

"Sorry...", the youngest Weasley boy shrugged.

"Yes, we are done, let's go", Arthur replied when they had joined the other.

They flood to the Leaky Cauldron, again going from youngest to oldest.

When Harry stepped out of the fire place, he saw Ginny hugging someone. No doubt that was Hermione. After the two separated again and Hermione saw her best friend, she gave him a hug.

"How you been, Harry?", she asked.

"Pretty good. Especially since I arrived at the Weasleys. How about you?"

"Yes, me too. My parents took me to Australia at the start of the summer. We had a lovely time."

Harry didn't respond because he heard Ron come out of the fire place and wanted to let those two greet each other.

"Hello, Hermione. How was your summer so far?", he asked politely.

Harry and Ginny had to snicker a bit because Ron tried to give Hermione the best impression possible. And she was clearly surprised by his mature behavior.

"Very good, thank you for asking. How has yours been? Is your arm better?"

"Oh yes, it's healing very well and I can play Quidditch again since some time so my summer is well."

Hermione exchanges some pleasantries with the rest of the Weasleys before they left the Leaky Cauldron. She was happy to be with her friends again. She was walking behind everyone for the first couple minutes and observed them, trying to figure out if anything interesting had happened since she last saw them.

Harry and Ginny were rather far ahead, talking and laughing. The two seemed to be getting along really well. Harry had grown a bit and his shoulders were broader than last year, while Ginny looked older as well. Their time together seemed to help their maturing friendship. It was good that Ginny was over her crush on the Boy-Who-Lived and could be friends with Harry now.

Fred and George looked at their environments and when they stopped once in a while to inspect something they were unfamiliar with she picked up parts of their conversation as she passed them. Apparently they were trying to get inspired by muggle objects and come up with ideas for new products.

Arthur and Molly were not talking at all, just walking down the street holding hands. They seemed to be enjoying their time of. No house to care for or food to cook or Order Business to attend.

Then there was Charlie who was walking in front of everyone kept looking around when they crossed a street or a group of people passed them. He was relaxed but his instincts were still sharp, looking if there was any threat around. Or maybe he was just a bit scared by all the cars and muggles, considering he spent most of his time with dragons on the countryside.

Lastly she looked at Ron who was walking beside her, not talking for once. He left her to her thoughts which she thought was really considerate. They hadn't seen each other in some time and he probably wanted to talk to her again. The way he held himself was more mature and he was behaving very politely. She was wondering if that was just because of her, but why would that matter, or maybe he had changed over the past weeks. He even held open the door for her when they entered Harrods.

She had been here with her parents a couple times but never bought anything because it was very expensive. Hermione was certain that they were just walking through the department store to get somewhere else, doubting that anybody except maybe Harry could by something here.

Soon enough the group arrived at C&A. That seemed to make more sense. The shop basically had every kind of clothes and wasn't expensive.

"Ok. We'll leave you to your shopping now. Charlie, Fred and George you already have your own money. Ginny and Ron, you'll each get 25£. And remember, be back at the Leaky Cauldron at 7pm. You can walk around London and go see some other shops but remember to always stay in pairs. Charlie, you're an exception, you can go out in your own if you want. Have fun!"

With that Molly let them go.

Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny formed a group and started going to the stairs to the kids floor. Fred and George stayed together and Charlie went to the Men's section alone.

"Fred and George seem to be making good money with their home shop if mum didn't need to give them money", Ginny said

"Yeah probably. I'm not surprised though, you remember how popular their products were last year?", her brother answered.

"I just wonder where they got enough money to start the shop in the first place.", Hermione brought up.

"I don't know, probably tricked someone to invest or they won a bet or something like that." Harry shrugged his shoulders.

In truth, he knew exactly where they got their money from. The prize for winning the Triwizard tournament was a 1000 Galleons. But back then he wanted to have as much to do with that money as he wanted now with Sirius'. At one moments he heard about the creations from Fred and George and when he talked to them about helping them out, they were more than happy to accept his help. It was the Kickstarter to their career. Without they probably wouldn't have considered dropping out of school either. Considering that their joke shop was apparently doing well, it had been a smart investment. Even though he didn't want any money they generated with their shop, he had accepted a deal they proposed him. At first they wanted him to take some of the profits but he refused, so they decided to let him have any product he wanted for free when he came by the shop.

"Yes, that sounds like them." Ginny pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Well, better for us, we can spend a bit more on clothes and other things we might need." Ron mentioned.

"Ginny, want to join me and go to the girls section?", Hermione asked.

"Sure, then the guys can get their stuff too. Let's meet up again in an hour alright?", she asked Harry and her brother.

"Sounds good, let's go mate." Ron went ahead and Harry followed.

Harry pulled out his list and started looking for the stuff he needed. First of all he looked for some sweatshirts. It was summer but he loved wearing them and it felt comfortable. The only problem was, that most of what he had was too small so he would buy a couple new ones. His list included some shorts, t-shirts and pants. Basic things. He didn't need anything fancy anyway.

While looking for some clothes that would fit him and that he liked, Harry wanted to ask his best friend something.

"So, what's up with you being so polite around Hermione?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh cmon Ron, it's obvious you're behaving differently with her."

"Yeah I guess so. I just want her to notice that I'm not this little kid anymore who doesn't know anything."

"You know she doesn't think that right?"

"Yeah, but she still treats me like I'm immature. Or at least she did last year. I don't want her to see that in me anymore."

"And why's that?"

"I want her to see I'm growing up."

Knowing that his best friend wouldn't tell him more than that, Harry stopped asking about Hermione and instead they talked about clothes. Not that either of them really cared but that didn't really matter. The two could basically talk about anything, however unimportant it was, and most of the time, unless there was something urgent to talk about, they didn't get bored. Usually, one of them would make a joke once in a while and they would laugh occasionally. Their similar sense of humor was probably one reason why they were such good friends.

After a while, both of them went to try some of the things on that they had picked up during their conversation. Trying on each piece after the other, they looked at each other and the other one would say if it fitted or not. Because they did t care too much about how it looked, they were done pretty fast and still had some time to spare before they would meet up with the girls again.

Both of them were getting a bit hungry and they thought about getting food.

"Yeah I'm hungry and I can always eat, you know me, but I spent basically all the money on these clothes", Ron held up the things he wanted to buy.

"Don't worry mate, I'll just pay", Harry responded.

"You sure mate?", Ron asked, considering the offer.

"Yes, no problem. I always get food at your house so it's the least I can do to repay that."

That convinced Ron and after they payed their clothes, the two guys went outside the store.

A couple streets down they saw a food truck selling Fish'n'Chips. After Harry asked his best friend if he wanted some, the redhead told him he didn't know what it was but he would try.

Shocked that his friend didn't know what it was, Harry bought both of them a bag. When he thought about it, how would Ron know what Fish'n'Chips was? He always spent his holidays at home with his family except that one time where they all went to Egypt or the Quidditch World Cup. Maybe his father could have told him about it but that would be a long shot.

"Blimey Harry, this is amazing!", Ron said with a full mouth.

"You'll find it everywhere in Muggle Britain.", he laughed a bit at the enthusiasm of his friend while watching him eat.

"What's Muggle Britain?", they heard a voice behind them.

When they turned around, they saw Charlie standing there.

"You really scared us there", Harry said in a relieving tone.

"The twins are not the only ones capable of that. Even though they put in a lot more effort in it than I do", Charlie chuckled a bit.

"You gotta try this, it's amazing!", Ron told his big brother.

They continued eating together and stayed a bit longer to talk to each other and then Ron and Harry left to meet up with the girls.

When they arrived back at the meeting point at C&A, the girls were nowhere to be seen. After a more minutes had passed and it had been more than an hour, Harry started to get concerned.

"Where do you think they are?", he asked.

"I don't know, probably still shopping. Girls will be girls", Ron replied, seemingly not worried at all.

"What's that supposed to mean?", his sister asked who walked up behind them.

"Why is everybody sneaking up on us today?", her brother said, clearly surprised again.

"So, what did you mean by "Girls will be girls"?", Ginny asked once more.

"Well, you know, girls spend time on clothes and their appearance and all so I though that's why you took longer", he said like he was caught doing a crime.

To Harry it seemed like Ron could get scared by his litter sister. A fact he found extremely amusing but also rather understandable. Ginny could be frightening when her hot tempter came through. He liked that about her though. She didn't suppress her emotion and seemed to be happy with who she was and didn't mind people seeing her occasional outbursts. It was level of comfortability Harry would really like be on but he just like people seeing him very emotional. Especially because some of his feelings were very private, for example the ones he felt after Sirius was gone. He didn't feel the need to share that with the world. Ginny could express her feelings in her temper and rage and passion, something he struggled with, which is why he bottled them up.

Right now, it looked like Ginny would let that temper out on Ron, and righteously so. That comment angered her and Hermione probably as well.

Harry knew since the Yule Ball that girls could spend hours talking about dresses and what to wear and which jewelry they liked and stuff like that but Ginny wasn't one of them. She liked to look good of course but not to a level where she talked about looks and how to improve them and clothes for hours. And she definitely didn't like to be categorized by stereotypes.

However, before Ginny went off at her brother, she seemed to have a flash of genius.

"Actually, the reason we took so much time, is because we met some nice guys while we shopped."

For a moment, Harry felt a sudden pinch of jealousy but it was gone very quickly, especially after he saw the confused look on Hermione's face. It seemed like Ginny made that up to annoy Ron and she succeeded. Her brother didn't realize Hermione's confusion, because he was too busy being baffled.

After saying that, she turned around on her heel and left to pay for her clothes. Harry followed her, leaving a confused Ron and surprised Hermione.

"Nice one, Gin!", Harry told her

"Thanks, Harry. I was actually about to go off at him but then I thought this would be better. Looks like I was right!", she smiled satisfied.

"Definitely a good idea. And I talked to Ron about how he was behaving around Hermione."

"And...?"

"He said he wants her to see that he's growing up and that she shouldn't treat him immature anymore."

"Ha! Well yeah but I guess that's not his only motive is it?"

"Didn't ask him that, but I agree. We'll have to get those two together at one point."

"You mean like an evil plan?"

"You could call it that, yes."

They both grinned mischievously.

Harry noticed that Ginny had spent all her money. Not that he was surprised, after all that's what she was here for.

They went back to their friends who were in the middle of a conversation. Ginny interrupted them.

"So, what next?", she wondered out loud.

"Do you want to get lunch after I payed?", Hermione asked

"I already ate with Harry earlier", Ron told her.

"Yeah, I took him to eat Fish'n'Chips. He didn't know what it was", Harry said.

Hermione knew how popular the food was but wasn't surprised either since Ron came from a pure-blood family.

"What's that?", Ginny wanted to know.

"Oh it's a great thing. It's fried fish with fries. Maybe a bit greasy but it tastes amazing!", Ron was all enthusiastic again.

"I could use some food and Ron sounds like he'd love to get more so I'd like to get some", Hermione said.

"I don't know, I'm not very hungry to be honest", Ginny brought up.

"Well I already had something and don't really need more right now. Why don't you two get more and Ginny and I will find something else to do. We can just meet up later at the Leaky Cauldron with the others", Harry suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, let's go Harry", Ginny said and started walking.

"Ehhh Harry...", Ron started

"Way ahead of you", Harry interrupted him and gave him 15£.

"Thanks, mate!", he replied and then left with Hermione.

When he left the the shop with Ginny, she told him she was wondering about something.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Does Fish'n'Chips really cost 20£? That feels like a lot."

"No it doesn't. We caught ours for 5£ each and that was a rather big bag."

"Then why give him the extra money?"

"Well maybe he'll play for Hermione too."

"Ohhh, I see. If he thinks of it. Usually I would say he's too focused on the food but considering his behavior today there might be a chance."

"I thought exactly the same."

The two smiled at each other for a moment.

"So, what do you wanna do next?", Ginny asked.

"You've never been to London before right?", he asked back.

"No. Well I've visited my dad at the Ministry a couple times but not in muggle London", she told him.

"Well then let's go sightseeing! You don't get the chance to see London everyday right?", he suggested.

"Sure!"

So, Harry started taking her through the streets of London. He could see that she amazed at how lively the city was and how many people lived here. The muggle technology impressed her as well. It seemed like she was really enjoying her time. As Harry looked at her being so happy, a warm feeling flowed through his body.

Once in a while he would throw in some facts about this or that building. Suddenly, a wagon with two people waving passed and it seemed like a lot of guards were surrounding them. Ginny noticed that too.

"What's going on here, Harry?"

"Do you see the woman in the wagon?"

"Yes, is she someone important?"

"You could say so", he chuckled lightly and then continued.

"That is the Queen of England, Ginny."

"Oh I've heard of her. She like Fudge right?"

"Well not exactly. Muggle Britain has a Prime Minister who is like Fudge - well he's probably better at his job - and a queen or king. The Prime Minister does all the politics and the Queen is more representative. She doesn't have as much power as she or other monarchs before her used to have."

"And who is Queen when she dies or retires?"

"First of all the Queen doesn't retire. I mean she will always be the Queen because it is a family thing. So her firstborn child will become King or Queen after her. In this case I think it is a man. Before he becomes King though, he is prince. So the title of King and Queen is passed down through the family."

"Oh ok I think I get it. So who's the person next to her?"

"I don't know either, but he seems important. Maybe it's a King or a Prime Minister or someone else important from another country. I'm gonna ask someone."

Harry interrupted their conversation and started to talk to a middle-aged man next to them who was watching the wagon as well.

"Excuse me, sir, do you know who the man next to the Queen is?", Harry asked.

"Why yes. This is Nelson Mandela. He's the president of South Africa. He is a very impressive person. Did you know he was in prison before he became president? Simply because he fought against racism in a country. Very admirable man in my opinion", the man responded.

"Thank you for explaining that to me, sir."

"It was my pleasure, young man."

Ginny had walked up to the two of them and listened to the explanation of the man.

"That really sounds impressive. One person who brought down racism in a country."

"Yes, that is impressive. Especially after being out in prison for your beliefs."

"How does racism work in the muggle world, Harry?"

"What do you mean Ginny?"

"Well racism for wizards is about blood-purity right? But muggles don't have that. So how are they racist to each other?"

"Ah I understand what you're saying. From what I know, people are discriminated because of their heritage just like it is in the wizarding world."

"So if a person comes from a country for example they are discriminated just because of that? That's horrible!"

"Yes it is. Just like discriminating muggle-born wizards and witches."

They stayed quiet as the wagon and the guards around it passed and the crowd who had watched the two important people disbanded. They left the site as well and continued walking down the street together.

"How do you know all that about muggles Harry?"

"Well I was raised in a muggle family remember?"

"Yes, of course. But a ten year old boy doesn't necessarily care about politics."

"I suppose. It was different for me. I could only watch the telly when my relatives weren't. And since they never wanted to watch the news, that's what I could watch."

"What's a telly?"

"Oh it's short for television."

She looked at him very confused. Then he understood why she didn't know what he meant. They didn't have televisions in the wizarding world.

"Oh it's like a box where you can watch a movie or something else. You know imagine the pictures in the Daily Prophet would not only move but also speak all the time. That's a television. And there's different things you can watch, like the news or a movie for example."

"Wow that's really cool! Why don't wizards and witches have that?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask your father."

"I'll definitely do that. But there's one thing I don't understand. Why don't your relatives want you to watch the telly with them?"

"We don't get along so well, you know that. Let's not talk about them please."

Ginny noticed that his mood was about to change when he thought about his adoptive family so she didn't wanna press the matter. If he ever wanted to talk about it then she would be there for him.

"I'm getting hungry, do you think we can get some food now?"

"Sure, no problem, what do you want?"

"I'll try that Fish'n'Chips you talked about earlier!"

"Alright let's look for some."

Only two minutes later they had found a stand where they could buy bags of Fish'n'Chips. Harry saw how Ginny counted her remaining coins of money and walked up to the stand without her.

"Two medium bags of Fish'n'Chips, please."

"That would be 7£, please."

Harry pulled out a 10£ bill and put it on the counter. Ginny was finished counting her coins and joined him.

"Harry I don't think I have enough money."

"Don't worry, I already payed for both of us."

"What? Oh thank you. I'll ask mum to pay you back."

"You don't have to do that, Ginny." He chuckled lightly.

"But you shouldn't have to pay for me!"

Harry brought up the same argument as he had earlier when Ron asked him if he really wanted to pay for him.

"I get food at your house all the time, this is the least I can do."

"Well, ok, if you say so. Thanks a lot Harry!"

She gave him a quick hug.

Harry was somewhat surprised. Not that she hugged him but because it was such a minor thing. She seemed to really appreciate the gesture. That made him smile.

They sat down on a bench and started eating. Harry noticed that he was hungry again even though he already ate not too long ago.

"This is really good!", Ginny said but he could barely understand her.

"I told you. I'm surprised the wizarding world doesn't have it. Maybe we'll talk to Rosmerta about it. Imagine if we could get some at the Three Broomstick."

"That would be amazing. I guess I'll spend even more time there then."

After they had finished, the two stood up again and walked around the city a bit longer again. From some distance Harry saw the Big Ben and noticed it was getting late.

"We should head back Ginny, we've got to be back the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. I'm sure your parents would like that we're not arriving at the last minute."

"Good idea, let's go!"

Harry thought that Ginny was just as energetic as she had been at the start of the day. While it was normal that he was less enthusiastic, he was impressed that all the walking didn't power her out.

The two continued to walk back and passed the C&A after some time. During their walk, they walked about everything and nothing. Mostly what subjects they would take, Harry's expectations about what he got on his OWLs and if Ginny would be a prefect.

From the C&A they took the same way back as when they walked there earlier. When they walked through Harrods, Harry noticed how Ginny slowed down a bit and looked into one of the shops where they had dresses in the window.

"You want something from in there?", he asked.

"Yes, I saw something I like but I couldn't buy it anyways."

Harry took out the rest of his money and put it in her hand.

"Here. Buy yourself that thing you really want", he smiled at her.

"Harry I can't accept that! This is a lot of money. I really want that dress but this is too much."

"Ginny, I'm not going to use this money anyway. It'll make you happy so it's worth it."

"I feel bad to buy it though because it's your money", she insisted.

"You don't have to feel bad for that! I'm giving it to you. Just see it as a present if you want to."

"It's your birthday soon, not mine so you should be the one getting presents", she chuckled.

"Well just take it and find what you like."

"I owe you a very big favor Harry. If you ever need something from me, tell me!"

"Alright, alright. Now go buy yourself that dress, I'll wait here."

Harry really didn't mind giving her his money. He was being honest when he said he didn't need it anyway. There was nothing material that he wanted right now and could buy on their way back. Seeing her happy was a much better way of using his money than to just have it in his pocket.

A couple minutes later she came out again, with a big smile on her face and a new bag in her hand. Her eyes sparkled a little and she gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. He blushed a little.

"Thanks Harry! It fits perfectly."

"I'm glad you like it! Now let's go back before we're late."

They continued to walk through Harrods and a couple more streets before they arrived a the Leaky Cauldron. Making sure that no muggle was looking at them, they entered.

"Looks like we're the first ones here", Harry told Ginny.

Right after he said that, there was a loud sound behind the two and both of them jumped backwards, wands drawn. Then they saw a bright flash blinding their eyes for a moment.

Just a second later they heard laughter from the floor above them and another moment later, Fred and George apparated in front of them.

"You should've seen your faces", the latter said, still laughing.

"And this picture is priceless", the other one said in the exact same manner.

Harry looked over to Ginny who was raging up again and took her hand quickly, holding her back. She looked at him a bit confused until he whispered: "Don't worry, we'll get back at them."

This was the third thing on her list that the twins would have to pay for. What an opportunity to really mess with them. Noticing Harry was still holding her hand, she pulled away quickly but blushed a little.

"You know you're just the victims because you came in here first", Fred told them.

"Is that supposed to make it better?", Ginny replied pettily.

"Well maybe a little?", George asked, pretending to be concerned but the smile on his face betrayed him.

Ginny really wanted to slap that smile of his face but before she could do that, her parents and Charlie entered the Leaky Cauldron.

"Where are Ron and Hermione? If they're not here in five minutes there'll be consequences!" Molly immediately noticed their absence.

"Well I wonder what they could be doing", Fred said with a wink to his twin brother.

"I have no idea what you mean", George responded even more ironically.

Ginny and Harry exchanged a look. It seemed like the chemistry between Ron and Hermione was obvious to the twins as well.

Just before 4pm, the two entered as well, apparently in an argument.

"I told you that we should have left earlier, we barely made it!", Hermione shouted at Ron.

"But we did make it so where's the problem?!", Ron yelled back.

"All that counts is that you're here now. If you could pause your argument for a second, we'll be flooeing back now", his father intervened.

"Looks like it's back to business as usual", Ginny quickly whispered to Harry before their friends walked over.

Then, she went to the fire place, shouted "the Burrow" and was gone. Harry followed her a few seconds later.

Back at the Burrow, Molly made an announcement.

"You'll all put your things away now and then you have some free time before dinner. Hermione you're staying in Ginny's room again, please feel at home", she smiled warmly at her before she continued.

"Arthur is just talking to the innkeeper so that our house is disconnected from the fire place there after he's back. You can go now", she finished.

As soon as Harry and Ron were back in their room, the Weasley asked: "Why do you think we need to disconnect from the floo at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I guess for safety measures. Don't want a Death Eater flooeing here right?", his best friend answers.

"I guess, but it's not like they could just walk in here either. They'd have to come in one at a time, makes it easy for us to take them out."

"True, but it's still dangerous. Imagine you're sleeping while they come here."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's unpack our things."

While taking out the clothes they bought, Harry asked Ron about his fight with Hermione. He played it down, saying everything was just like before the summer and they still argued all the time. Harry decided not to concern himself with it anymore, he was sure this would be forgiven pretty fast just like always.

From there on, the day continued without any major events and everyone was enjoying each other's company.

 **A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you liked this chapter.**

 **Please R/R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The birthday**

"Happy birthday Harry!", Ginny and Hermione shouted together.

"Wh- Wha- What?", he responded, just waking up.

"Cmon wake up, it's your birthday!", the Weasley girl said enthusiastically.

"Yeah yeah relax guys, let me wake up in peace", he told them.

"Exactly, there's people who like to sleep here", Ron mumbled from under his blanket.

"Oh please, as if you don't sleep enough already!", Hermione said.

"Okay, okay. We'll be right down", Harry reassured the girls.

After they were making no effort to move, he just started undressing in front of them.

"Ugh, Harry!", Ginny yelled at him and covered her eyes.

"You're the ones who didn't leave!" He smirked at them.

"Let's leave Ginny!" Hermione ran out as quickly as possible.

Ron and Harry immediately bursted out in laughter.

"I told you it would work perfectly!", the redhead said.

"That was hilarious! Of course they would come in if they thought we'd be sleeping and they'd stress us. Well, now they see what they get for "waking us up", Harry replied.

"You're just lucky they didn't call your bluff. Imagine they would've stayed", Ron spoke out loud what he imagined.

"Oh well I guess I would've had to continue then." Harry grinned.

"Oi, that's disgusting. That's your best friend and my sister mate!", his best friends told him.

"Well she isn't my sister", Harry responded jokingly and left to the bathroom before the pillow Ron had thrown at him could hit its target.

Harry was excited. Most of his birthdays had been very boring, a day like any other really. But this one would be great. His best friends were here, the family he was closest too was with him as well and there was no one treating him any different because of who he was and he could just enjoy this day. Usually he didn't like the attention but the one he would get today cane from sincere affection and he appreciated that.

After Harry had finished getting dressed, he walked downstairs, and a couple things exploded here and there and soon enough the whole room was filled with colors.

There were floating and flashing letters in front of him, reading "Happy Birthday Harry", while everyone else was singing. There were two cakes on the table and a small table with a few wrapped gifts.

As soon as they had finished the song, the two girls walked up to him and each of them gave him a kiss on the cheek and they both wished him a happy birthday.

Next up was Ron who gave him a quick hug and patted him on the shoulder. The twins took him between them and each of the clapped him on the back, maybe a bit too strong because he tripped forward a bit. They laughed at that.

Charlie and Bill were both here, the latter had arrived about two days ago. Fleur was spending some of the holidays with her family in France. The two oldest Weasleys shook his hand, just like their father.

At last, Mrs. Weasley got to give him a really tight hug from which he feared he would suffocate.

"Happy Birthday, dear!", she wished him.

"Thank you. All of you. For this and everything else you've done for me, really, thank you so much!"

"Oh don't start tearing up Harry", the twins mocked up.

"Shut up and let us have this moment", their sister scolded them.

"Some of the Order members will come by later as well", Arthur told him.

Harry was happy he would get to see Remus again. He didn't know who else was coming but Lupin would definitely be there. Seeing the last real Marauder would provoke some sad emotions but he would try not to focus on those. Dumbledore might come as well, maybe Moody and Tonks too.

"So, do you wanna open your gifts or eat your cakes first?", Hermione asked him.

"Why not both at the same time? Get some cake and open gifts while eating!", Ron suggested.

Of course they had to get into an argument again. Couldn't they just agree with each other once. Harry shook his head and chuckled.

"I'll open one gift and then we'll have breakfast, alright?". Everyone would be happy then.

His two best friends both replied "fine" at the same time, looked at each other confused about the synchronization and then watched as Harry opened his first gift.

If was a small black box and inside he found two transparent contact lenses. Those were one of Harry's wishes. He liked his glasses but having to repair them after basically every duel or loosing his eyesight during a battle just wasn't very useful so he decided it would be time to put them away.

"They're transparent because we didn't want to change cover up your eye color. They're the same as your mothers and the green is really nice to be honest", Ginny told him.

He was very thankful for that. It was the one physical thing he had gotten from his mother, he didn't want to lose that. And the compliment was nice as well.

"Ginny was actually very insisting on buying transparent ones, your eyes were sooooo beautiful she said", Fred brought up.

"Shut it!" His sister got red.

"They're really nice, thank you! Let's eat something now." He decided to save her from any more embarrassment.

The cake Molly had made was amazing and Harry was sure to tell her multiple times. Every time her face seemed to shine.

The Weasleys plus Harry and Hermione talked for more than an hour while having breakfast, cracked jokes and simply enjoyed each other's company.

Harry opened another present, a knitted jumper from Mrs. Weasley. It was the same gift as always and nothing extraordinary but he always appreciated because she put some work into it and the present came from the heart.

It was golden and red, Gryffindor colors and fitted him perfectly. He thanked her before the kids all went outside to go swim in the lake near the Burrow. Bill and Charlie stayed behind though, helping their parents clean up a bit.

When they were inside the lake, the decided to have a little competition. They would pair up and then one person would go on the shoulder of the other and fight the other teams, trying to push the opponents down. Harry and Ron formed a team, as did the twins and the girls.

Unfortunately, nobody stood a chance against Fred and George. First Harry was on top, then Ron, but in neither combination they managed to push George down. The girls couldn't either. They switched up teams and Ginny went on her brothers shoulders and Hermione and Harry's and together they tried to throw George of his brothers shoulders but nothing worked. The two were an unbeatable team.

After their little fights everyone tried to dunk each other under water or splashed each other. The weather was perfect and they all had fun. They lied down near the lake on some towels to dry in the sun. Before they could get a a sunburn, Hermione told them to get back inside. This led to yet another argument with Ron in which he told her that she should stop bossing people around. She replied it was for their own good. These two could probably go on forever but Harry blended them out.

He couldn't stop himself from looking at Ginny. She looked really pretty. Over the last weeks she seemed to have gotten a slight tan, making her not as pale as usual. And the freckles that came out even more during the summer were very cute and matched well with her flaming red hair, as did her eyes. That she was only wearing a swimsuit attracted his eyes even more and he had to force himself to look away multiple times. Harry just hoped that nobody had noticed him looking at her.

So when she and Hermione started whispering to each other he grew a bit concerned but unfortunately couldn't pick up anything they were saying on their way back to the Burrow.

"Do you see Harry looking at you?", Hermione asked the other girl.

"What? He's looking at me?", Ginny was surprised.

"Oh cmon, don't tell me you haven't noticed", Hermione didn't really believe her friend.

"No I'm serious, he's been looking at me?", Ginny asked sincerely.

"Yes, he has. You look pretty, Ginny, so I'm not very surprised but I thought you'd like to know since you and Dean aren't together anymore", she told her friend.

The Weasley girl had told her friend about the end of her relationship a couple days ago.

"Well yes, I'm open to other guys of course, but Harry? I mean we're good friends but I don't have that girly crush on him anymore", she reminded Hermione.

"Yes, I know that. But that doesn't mean you don't have a real crush on him", she said with a little wink.

"But I don't. I haven't even thought about him in any romantic way. And he's a teenage guy, nothing wrong with looking at a pretty girl like me", Ginny flicked her hair in the most cliché way and the cockiness in her voice was obvious. Hermione laughed at that.

"I'm just telling you what I'm seeing", and with that she ended the conversation about Harry, but the two continued to talk about guys for a bit.

When they came back, they showered quickly and went back down where Lupin and Tonks were waiting.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!", Remus said.

"Thank you Remus, it's good to see you again." It was still a bit weird to call a former professor by his first name but they were friends and had a decent amount of things connecting them personally so it made sense. And calling him professor would have been weirder.

"Wotcha Harry, congratulations!", Tonks wished him a happy birthday as well. This time her hair was a bright yellow with some orange stripes and her outfit was just as colorful.

They continued to talk about non-important stuff and how Harry's summer had been and what he had been doing. He didn't feel like talking about anything else anyway.

The next present he opened was his second wish. A pensieve. Harry had no idea of how to get one so he had written it down as one of his wishes that he had sent to the Weasleys. And they had come through.

Harry had no clue on how they had gotten one, maybe they knew where to buy one or Dumbledore had helped or Arthur could get one at the MoM but it didn't matter now.

He thought that it would be great if he could take out his memories and show them to some people. The use of that would've prevented all the troubles he had last year, with people not believing him Voldemort was back.

And he also wanted to make sure that Umbridge never got any job at the Ministry or somewhere else of importance again. So if as tried to creep back into Fudges circle of trust, he would show the Wizengamot how she tortured students.

But he also wanted to use it to cherish and review happy memories. At one point he would feel sad again and maybe some of the positive memories he had would cheer him up.

"If you want I'll teach you how to use it", Lupin offered.

"That would be great. Do you think we can do it now?", he asked.

"Sure, why not. Let's go upstairs", he suggested and they left to Ron's room.

They closed the blinds and the room was almost completely dark, except a couple candles. They placed the pensieve on Ron's bed.

"First of all there's one thing I need to tell you. If you extract a memory from you mind, you will not remember it until you watch it in a pensieve. So make sure to store your memories safely. Are you ready then?", Remus asked.

"Yes, what do I need to do?", Harry asked back.

"I'll show you how to do it first and then explain it. Look closely."

Lupin placed the tip of his wand to the side of his head and held it there for a few seconds, until the spot started to shine silvery-white. Then, he slowly pulled away his wand and the light followed. It was a wavy streak, loosely attached to the tip of his wand. He dropped the memory in one of two vials that lay next to the pensieve.

"Now you. Focus on a memory. For now use a simple one. It shouldn't be connected to a lot of other memories, because that will make it difficult to extract. Also it shouldn't be too emotional because that makes it harder as well. Then put the tip of your wand to the side of your head like I did. All you have to do then is to wait until you feel the memory in your wand. Pull it away slowly then. This is your first time, it might hurt a bit. And don't forget to focus on your memory!", he instructed Harry.

Harry tried to focus and the memory he chose was clear in his head. So far so good. Then he pointed his wand to his temple, but the memory wouldn't leave.

"Don't worry, it's not an easy thing to do. It will take you a couple tries at least", Remus told him.

For around half an hour Harry tried to extract a memory form his head but he didn't manage to do it. He wanted to give up and got frustrated.

"If you're frustrated it won't work. You have to clear your mind from all emotions, not only thoughts. Ignore your surrounding and just concentrate on that one memory. Feel it with the magic of your wand and then take it. You can do this Harry!

Encouraged by his former teacher, he tried once more. This time it felt different. His mind was flooded by the memory he chose, everything else pushed aside. Then, when his wand touched his temple, he could practically feel his memory wanting to escape. That was it. Slowly he extracted the silvery streak from his head and put it into the pensieve.

"Very good Harry! Really good. Even some adult and advanced wizards and witches need the time you took. So, let's watch your memory!", Remus said enthusiastically, clearly proud of the teenage boy.

He waved his wand upwards and the memory took place in front of them. Harry would need to ask him how he did that.

Then, both of them watched how Harry played Quidditch in his third year. It was a match against Ravenclaw and he was flying around, looking for the snitch. The memory wasn't special or very emotional, but he had felt happy and it wasn't really connected to anything else because he didn't remember a lot else from the match. After it was over, he panicked for a second.

"What happens now? How do I get my memory back?", he asked Remus.

"Well first of all you just watched it so you have it back. Second, you can extract it from the pensieve again and put it in a vial. It's rather simple. You just focus on what you just saw and try to pull it to your wand. Since the pensieve is magical and designed to show memories only but not contain them and it isn't a living thing, the process will be a lot easier than to take it out of your mind", he told Harry.

Indeed he was right. The silvery streak appeared at the end of Harry's wand the first time he tried. He dropped it in the vial and he put the small glass in his trunk, wrapped in some clothes so it wouldn't break.

"Remus, how did you make the memory appear outside the pensieve?"

"Oh, that's easy. You focus on the liquid of the pensieve and pull it out. Then the memory will appear outside the pensieve. It might be a little blurry and it can't be a long memory but it works most of the time."

"Alright, thanks a lot. This is the second great thing you taught me, thank you again!"

"Anytime, Harry!"

They went back downstairs and covered his pensieve with a stone plate.

"Hey Harry, where were you?", Ginny asked him.

"Just trying out my new pensieve", he explained.

"Oh that's great, how is it?", Hermione joined the conversation.

"Pretty good, I'm just wondering where to put it at Hogwarts", he told them.

"We'll find a place when we get there", Ron reassured him.

"Sounds like a plan", Harry replied.

The four friends went outside again and passed around the Quaffle while talking. At one point Hermione got hit in the head by Ron which started yet another argument but made Harry and Ginny laughed.

They continued to relax a bit until Mrs. Weasley called them back in for dinner. The food she had made was amazing, even more than usual. She even made all of them some treacle tart, which he loved.

His birthday was rather quiet in the sense that nothing spectacular happened, but it was loud and lively nonetheless. What else could someone expect when being at the Burrow with the Weasleys?

Fred and George talked about new products, Tonks entertained everyone by changing her face into others, Hermione and Ron were arguing about something again, Charlie and Bill talked about something he couldn't pick up because they sat at the other end of the table. Ginny was sitting next to Harry and they were just enjoying the scene around them. At one point they each wanted to whisper something to the other and bumped their heads into the other, which made everyone laughed.

The dinner lasted pretty long but after they cleaned up the table, the twins suggested to the younger teenagers to go outside for a bit. As it was in the middle of summer, it wouldn't get cold and if that was the case they just had to go inside and get a jacket.

First they started talking for a bit but it seemed like Fred and George had something on the edge of their tongues that they were dying to say. Hermione obviously noticed.

"Fred, George, what's going on?", she asked them.

"Well, today was nice and all...", Fred started

"But that wasn't a real party...", George continued

"Which is what you have us for", his brother finished.

Then, both of them pulled out a bottle with some sort of liquid. Ron and Ginny seemed to know what it was and they looked pretty surprised.

"What's this?", Harry asked.

"What's this you ask...", this time George started.

"This is what you need for some real fun...", his brother continued.

"It's Firewhiskey!", he finished.

"Is that like muggle whiskey?", Harry wanted to know.

"Well we don't know what muggle wishkey is...", Fred said.

"But this is probably stronger", George completed.

"I really must advise against this!", Hermione intervened.

Ron, seemingly against the idea of drinking rights now at first, took one of the bottles just to disagree with Hermione and took a quick sip, had to stop though because his throat was burning.

"Looks like our little brother is gonna need some more practice to get used to it", Fred told his twin brother.

"He's just weak", their sister said and took a sip of her own. Then she turned to Harry.

"Come on, it's your birthday, live a little!", she told him.

Harry, rather curious himself, took the bottle from her and took a sip. Surprisingly enough, he didn't cough.

"Might as well," Hermione sighed and drank some of it as well. She handled it a bit better than Ron.

The twins drank it like it was nothing, apparently already used to it and Ginny either had tried it before or she was just more immune to its effects, because she seemed not bothered by the burning sensation at all.

They continued talking and cracking jokes while drinking the first bottle, then started the second one and quickly finished it too.

Harry was getting more and more drunk, as were the other ones except the twins who still behaves pretty normal. Well as normal as one could expect. The feeling he had was pretty cool, he thought. The intoxication washed away most of his feeling and he just felt careless for once, which he really enjoyed.

Since the second bottle was empty, Ron had asked for more. The twins were considering, but before had to say something important. After a while, they had stopped completing each other's sentences cause nobody could follow them anymore.

"So, we know you want more and we can totally understand. But before we do that, you'll need to be tested. We don't want you so drunk that Mum will kill us tomorrow so there's a limit", Fred started.

"Each of you will stand up now and try to make a 4, like I am doing now", George continued.

He demonstrated what he meant right away. One leg was standing straight on the ground, the other one was bent and the foot from the leg in the air touched the other legs knee. Then, he put his hands together above his hands like he was clapping, but held them there.

"That's easy", Ron bragged drunkenly and stood up. He failed miserably.

"Oh, Ron, try to something right for once", Hermione told him but she failed as well.

Harry was surprised he managed to do it. He has drank less than the others but it was still difficult. Once in a while e lost his balance but it was enough to convince the twins. Ginny who seemed to endure the most out of the four younger friends and who also drank less than Ron and Hermione managed to do a 4 as well.

After they had sat back down, Fred came to them and told them where they could get more.

"Go to our room, there's a stash under my bed. We'll keep an eye on these two. It's getting a bit cold so you can stay in the room as well, we'll join later", he whispered.

Ginny and Harry were on their way, but a bit slower than they would usually walk.

The stairs were more of an obstacle than they had thought, so they were glad when they arrived at the twins room. Harry kneed on the floor and pulled out a wooden box from under Fred's bed. When he opened it, he saw many more bottles of firewhiskey and some other drinks as well. Deciding that one bottle would be more than enough for the two of them, he closed the box again after taking one out and put it back under Fred's bed.

"Where to they get all these bottles from? And why do they have so many?", Ginny asked astonished.

"Seems like their joke shop really is doing well. And they probably throw a party once in a while", he thought.

"Hey, that actually makes sense Harry," she said chuckling.

"What's that supposed to mean?", he replied, pretending to be angry.

"Well I just didn't think we could think very well anymore", she explained, holding up the bottle of Firewhiskey.

"Fair enough. But since we apparently can, let's drink some more!", he suggested.

"I like this Harry!", she told him before taking a rather long sip.

Afterwards he had the bottle and drank and they continued to switch around until it was empty. Sometime over the last 20 minutes, Harry's mood has switched from overly careless to really emotional. He would later learn that he had been "sad drunk". Ginny apparently didn't get like that or she needed a lot more.

However, she was very surprised when he opened up. Ginny knew that Harry was a very closed up person and she was completely fine with his brooding attitude and now his emotional walk started crumbling, she was caught off guard. Being drunk definitely didn't help right now.

And then he started crying. Harry usually didn't cry. He never did. It was useless and didn't make things better so why would he do it. That had been his thought process but since he wasn't really in control anymore, the things he usually put in place to keep his emotions in check were falling apart.

He talked about Sirius, how he missed him, what he had told him the night where they freed Buckbeak and saved him. The moment of joy Harry had felt at the thought of having a real father-figure in Sirius and that he could still maybe have a somewhat enjoyable childhood. That his godfather was on the run didn't bother Harry, they would've managed somehow. He told her how Sirius helped him during the Tri-Wizard tournament and then he said that he saw it all fade away as his now dead godfather fell through that strange veil.

Ginny already felt incredibly bad for him and his stories were really sobering, figuratively and literally. She thought that he didn't have more to say but she was wrong. Losing his parents and never actually knowing them, and then seeing his godfather die wasn't enough, he had to witness a friend get murdered by the person who had ruined his life and was back now to terrorize him. Ginny always hated Voldemort for what he did and represented but Harry had so much more reason to do so.

The next stories were about the night of the Third Task in the graveyard, how Pettigrew who he once thought was his parents friend killed Cedric. For a short while he talked about Wormtail and the anger in his voice could not be missed.

Ginny knew from Ron that Harry had nightmares but when he described them it felt real and so much more scary. But these bad dreams weren't the only things haunting him.

Harry didn't know why, but he felt the need to tell Ginny everything. He wanted to get it all out, to tell someone about what he was feeling and she was there. The next thing he told her was how Voldemort had invaded his mind, not only at the MOM but also before that. He mentioned his Occlumency lessons with Snape and the memories that the Potions Master had of his father.

She heard about things like the Mirror of Erised and how he had to walk away from his parents. The angst when Quirrel revealed his other side. From experience she knew how Umbridge mistreated students but she had picked on Harry most of all. She would've called it torture. The things he said about his adoptive family and how they treated him were making her tear up as well.

In between all of his stories, Fred and George walked in, just having brought to bed Ron and Hermione. She shook her head at them and even though they didn't really understand what was going on, seeing Harry cry was enough for them to know that it was serious.

After he was done, she saw the incredible hurt on his face, that apparently had been there the entire summer already. The look he usually had wouldn't be just brooding to her anymore but it was angst and pain that she would see.

And despite all that had happened to him, he still managed to stay positive and not see other people around him his true emotions. She thought the weight of that alone would crush her.

By the end of the night, Ginny knew a lot more about Harry and even though she had always wished he would open up a bit more, this was not what she had expected. From the night on his 16th birthday on, she saw him in a different light.

 **A/N: I will be gone for a bit now, but I have written some chapters ahead of time and will try to continue posting them as usual. Please enjoy and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry I haven't posted lately, I've been on vacation latetly.**

 **Chapter 8: Nightmares**

It was dark and cold in the Forest. Harry Potter looked was running, evading tree branches, jumping over roots, trying to get more space between his hunter and himself. The Death Eater flying above him was coming dangerously closer as he didn't have obstacles in his way above the trees as Harry did on the ground.

The Death Eater was just waiting his prey to tire our, eventually not being able to run anymore and then catch him.

Harry needed to think of something fast. Running forever wasn't an option, attacking the Death Eater wasn't either, he was to far away and could easily dodge any spell Harry could summon.

That left hiding as his only option. For some reason he was wearing a strange kind of robe, luckily enough, it was dark green. Strangely, he was able to see even though everything around him was dark.

A bit further ahead, he saw a group of bushes and when he was close enough, Harry jumped inside. For a moment he felt safe, than the Death Eater rose down from the sky and others apparated around the bushes Harry was hiding in.

Then, each of them shouted "Incendio" in their own menacing way.

That was when Harry Potter woke up. It took some time to adjust to the light around him, as it was still dark in the room. Ron was sleeping and hadn't notice how Harry's sleep abruptly ended.

This had been the 5th nightmare in an equal amount of days. Fortunately, today hadn't been to bad. Usually they were a lot worse, involved Voldemort somehow and maybe he saw someone dying. Nothing that hadn't happened in real life.

Harry really didn't want to go back to sleep, knowing that it would probably provoke more nightmares. Taking his glasses of the table next to him and putting them on, he stood up from his bed and exited the room as quietly as possible so that he wouldn't wake up Ron. He was still too tired to put in his contact lenses.

He went downstairs and found some empty space in the living room. There he started to work out. Just like in Little Whinging, the physical activity distracted him. Since no one of the Weasleys was awake that was his only option. Not that it was bad, he liked it and he thought staying fit was important, but it wasn't as enjoyable as the company of his friends.

Especially Ginny played an important part since his birthday. They had talked until very late and she had tried to make him feel better, but the wave of emotions surfacing had been too much to control so she couldn't do much but to listen to his painful stories. He had apologized to her that she had to hear about all those things and for burdening her with it.

She told him that he was crazy. That he shouldn't apologize for telling personal things, no matter how bad they were, to his friends. Ginny had gone on to explain what exactly she meant after he didn't understand. Of course the stories bothered her, but not because he told her but because she felt for him. She was bothered that he had to experience all those things and also that he never told anyone.

Ginny didn't mind not knowing but she made it clear to Harry that keeping it in would only make it worse. She compared it to an obscurial. Harry had read about those in of the books he had finished over the summer. They were wizards and witches who suppressed their magic purposely in their youth and eventually got killed by it because it needed to be let out. Ginny thought that the same would happen to the mind and heart of a person if he or she didn't express her emotions once in a while. It would eat them up from the inside.

Harry understood what she meant by that, even though it may have been a bit extreme. But the point was clear. From there on out, he promised he would tell her about all emotional problems he experienced.

At first he hadn't been comfortable with telling her so much, but he realized that that was stupid. She was one of his best friends, trustworthy and somehow involved anyways because of her family and her own beliefs. Also, since his birthday, she already knew so much that it made sense to tell her about anything new that happened. He didn't know if he would be able to talk about everything he had experienced so far if he was sober and his feelings weren't diminished by the alcohol in his blood.

So even if Ron and Hermione and had been his friends for longer, Ginny was the better choice. He also had a feeling that she understood him a bit better and wouldn't try to solve all of his problems. Not that he minded that his best friends tried to help him, but sometimes they couldn't really do something about it and he was annoyed by them.

Ginny seemed to understand that and left him alone and only talked to him about how it was completely alright to feel the way he did and that she would help him solve any problems he wanted to.

The logical approach Hermione would take would leave his emotional problems completely out of the picture. Maybe she would try to simplify it so that she would understand, but that wouldn't have a positive effect either.

Rons approach would probably result in him saying that he would beat up Malfoy and kill Voldemort. Harry was immensely grateful that his best friend would jump in for him and do those things without question but that didn't help his current situation.

So Harry was very thankful for Ginny. She was calm but also fierce when she told him that he was behaving like a complete jerk or irrational. But he knew that the passion she had was on his side if he needed it, as proved the battle at the Department of Mysteries already. Now that was probably even more the case.

He wondered how they would interact once they were at school. Right now they were spending most of their time together. At school they would probably have Quidditch, all Gryffindor activities and their free time together, but classes would be separate since she was a year below him.

When thinking about these activities, Harry still hadn't decided if he would continue the DA. Maybe he would, depending on how he did on his OWLs, who the Quidditch captain was and so on and how many students wanted to continue.

That would probably all be decided soon enough, the Hogwarts letters should arrive over the next couple days.

After his workout, Harry went to take a shower and put on some clothes, still trying to be quiet as Ron was sleeping. When he arrived downstairs, Charlie was talking with his parents. Bill had left two days earlier.

"So who are we gonna take? We can't really bring Harry can we?", he heard Charlie say.

Curious on the topic of their conversation, he stayed hidden behind the corner of a wall so that he could listen to their conversation. Usually he wouldn't do it, it was bad behavior and manners but after last year when nobody wanted to tell him something except Sirius, he needed to get his information from somewhere.

"I still don't want him there, I think he's too young and should be protected", Molly brought up.

When Harry heard that, he clenched his fists and had to stop himself from bursting out and jumping into the conversation right now.

"You saw what that did to him last year! And did you remember he saved that?", Charlie argued.

"Yes, he was mad last year and I think Dumbledore was too extreme and kept him in the dark a bit too much but he's still a child. And he saved your father from far away", she replied.

"Well yes, but you know what Dumbledore said about his potential. He can help and he has too. We're lost without him", Charlie said.

What potential? Harry was confused. Seemed like Dumbledore had kept a lot of things secret. Further, he was surprised at how much Charlie fought for him. He knew that it was probably not because he liked Harry a lot or something like that but it was still nice.

"I heard the prophecy as well and I know what Dumbledore said. But he shouldn't be out there, you know what happened at the Department of Mysteries", his mother answered.

"I'm not saying to send him out and do every little thing but he should be included in some decision since a lot of them are about him and he was the power to do a real difference. So let's take him with us today", Charlie responded.

"What do you think, Arthur?", Molly asked her husband.

"We should take him with us, he has a right to be there. He may not be old enough to be inducted into the Order but he still belongs there", Mr. Weasley spoke for the first time.

Harry couldn't see Molly's face, but she seemed to be fighting with herself. For a while nobody said anything.

"Alright. We'll take him with us. But what about the others?", she asked.

"I mean they were in the Dumbledore's army as well. They can fight. We can train them as well", Charlie suggested.

"Ginny is way too young!", his mother complained.

Harry knew Ginny would not have liked her mother saying that.

"Mom, I wouldn't want to be on the sidelines. They won't either, especially not Ginny! And Ron and Hermione are his best friends and they've been with him since the start of his time at Hogwarts. They'll be included anyway, better we train them too", Charlie said.

"He's right Molly. They're in this war simply by association and they'll want to help. We can't keep them completely safe, but we can train them", Arthur said calmly.

"But I need to protect them!", Molly complained once more.

For a second there, Harry thought she might cry. He could understand her desire to protect her children and him and Hermione. Especially after her brothers had been killed in the First Wizarding War. But Charlie and Arthur made good points and she realized that.

"So it's decided, we're bringing Harry into the meeting but we'll make sure to train the others a bit as well?", Charlie asked.

"Yes, that is the idea. But it's not up to us to decide", Arthur confirmed.

Harry went back to the stairs and tapped his foot loudly on them so they knew he was coming and he could pretend like he just hadn't eavesdropped on their entire conversation.

When he entered the kitchen, they all greeted him and asked him how he slept and other pleasantries. Then, Charlie sat him down.

"Harry, we'll take you to the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix today. You can't technically be a member because of your age but due to your situation, we will to suggest that you attend the meeting. We can't promise that Dumbledore and the rest will agree, but we will try to convince them. We're flooeing to Grimmauld Place after breakfast", he explained.

A cold shudder went down Harry's back when Charlie mentioned Grimmauld Place. The memories he had at that place were all nice, but he couldn't go there now. Not after what had happened to Sirius. And he didn't know what he would do to Kreacher when he saw him again. But on the other hand he couldn't miss out the chance to attend an Order meeting and be included for once. Harry would just have to endure that grim, old place.

"Alright. Thank you for that", he told them sincerely.

To go to Grimmauld Place wasn't the only thing that Harry was not looking forward to. He would see Dumbledore again, for the first time since he trashed his office. Not that the headmaster couldn't clean it up in seconds but Harry still felt bad. He had his reasons of course, but he didn't know how Dumbledore would behave today.

The opportunity to be included into Order business and missions was pretty great, and he would also get to be trained by some of them so to meet with them today was important. He thought about what his friends would say when they found out that they would get to be trained by the Order and prepared for future battles but that they wouldn't be as included as Harry. Ginny would probably be mad, Hermione would understand and Ron would probably be somewhere in between. Not that Ginny wouldn't understand, but Harry was convinced she was still going to be mad.

He went back upstairs to change, as he was still in his pajamas. Ron was still sleeping, so once again Harry had to be quiet. He took a shower and changed quickly, and when he left the bathroom, he saw Ginny on the stairs, rushing to her room. So Charlie and her parents had told her. Hermione walked up more calmly.

"They told you two?", he asked.

"Yes. Ginny is really mad about it", she confirmed the obvious.

"I can see why. If I was in her shoes, I wouldn't want to be kept out either, especially when basically my whole family is included. She's capable and passionate, not being able to help must really mess with her", he thought out loud.

"That's exactly it. She wants to help and they tell her she's not allowed to. Obviously they do it to protect her and especially her mother wants to keep her safe but she doesn't see it, all she thinks is that she isn't allowed to be there", Hermione explained.

"I feel bad for her. But I know she'll get over it. But after the battle at the DOM I think that she hoped to get more involved", he told her.

"Yes, that's possible." she nodded

"So, what do you think?", he asked.

"It makes sense that you go. Especially now that you know about the prophecy. Excluding you would be counterproductive. And I don't mind not being there. My parents already worry a lot. Of course I would like to attend the meetings, but if they let underage wizards in the Order and something bad happens, that would have extreme consequences. It makes sense to have that rule", she told him.

"That makes sense, but what do you feel?", he asked.

"Alright. I don't like being kept out. I know that I can help, even if it's just with research or planning. But I also know that you are an exception so that including you is acceptable. So I'm a bit disappointed that I can't join yet, but it's not going to be long until I can, after all I'm almost seventeen", she explained.

"Right, you'll be the first real member of the Order out of the three of us." After a short moment of silence, he continued.

"I just hope Ron takes it well."

"Let me deal with him, you go to that meeting. Good luck!"

Then, Hermione went to Ginny's room and he left downstairs to get breakfast. The twins, Charlie and their parents were all sitting there. They quickly discussed the procedure of how everything would go down today and then they were ready to leave. Only Molly stayed behind to keep an eye on the three other children. The other five left.

 **Grimmauld Place**

Harry stepped out of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place after the attending Weasleys had arrived. As soon as he saw his surroundings, he felt cold.

Luckily he was soon distracted by the negative atmosphere the gray and dark house had by the members of the Order. Lupin greeted him first and asked how he was doing. They only had a short conversation before Harry went to say hello to some other people. Tonks was there, as were Bill and Fleur. He saw some older members like Kingsley, Moody and Hestia Jones. Dumbledore didn't seem to be present, and neither did Snape. Maybe that was for the better.

Soon enough, everyone went into the dining room and sat around a big table. Moody seemed to be leading the meeting and had approved of Harry's presence. He began speaking after everyone had sat down.

"Alright everyone, we want to keep today fast and simple. First of all, Dumbledore and the rest of the Hogwarts staff are working at the school so those of them who are in the Order can't come today. Also, Harry Potter will be attending today's meeting as he is of great importance in this war", he started.

Some people looked at him but a lot of the people had seen him on some other occasion or before the meeting had started.

"We have several points to go through today. First of all we need a few people working with the Ministry. Kingsley is heading that part of the Order, but he'll need assistance. We don't have to like it but we need them. So who else can help with that? Best someone who already worked with the Ministry before or is an auror", he continued.

Tonks and two other aurors Harry didn't know raised their hands.

"Good, you three will help them. Scrimgeour is helping us as well, though he isn't part of the Order, so we have the help of other aurors as well. Now that the Ministry is aware of Voldemort's return, we can use their help to disable some Death Eater cells. High value targets will only be handled by us as we can't trust anyone completely who is not part of the Order", he explained.

"The goal of those working with the Ministry is to watch, report, help and recruit. If you see any incompetence and corruption in the politics, report. If you suspect anyone to help Death Eaters, investigate further but don't push it too far, we need to stay vigilant. Don't behave too suspicious or the Ministry will not cooperate as easily. Try to train some people and explain to them what is happening out there and help everyone who is trying to fight Voldemort", he instructed.

Harry noticed how nobody at the table flinched when Moody said Voldemort. It was very refreshing.

"Lastly, if you can convince some people that they can do more with us than at the Ministry and if these people are willing to risk their lives, tell Kingsley about it. He will sort out some candidates that are not able to help us and would be more of an obstacle during operations. I will check out each of the possible recruits so we don't risk inviting spies. The small circle will stay the same. But nevertheless, recruitment is extremely important as we are heavily outnumbered", he continued.

Moody took a quick look around before he continued. Everyone was being very attentive and let Mad-Eye lead the meeting without causing any disturbances.

"Everyone else who gets the opportunity to recruit someone should do that. We have some wizards and witches coming from other countries as well who are helping out. Getting more people to join our cause is critical."

As nobody had questions, he could go on.

"Next up are the trials of all the Death Eaters captured at the DOM. All of them are being sent to Azkaban. That includes high level targets like Malfoy, Dolohov, two Lestranges and many more. Despite Sirius' death, the battle was success because of all these captures", he said calmly.

Before he continued, he eyed Harry and Remus were carefully and his looks warned them not to say anything on that matter. The Order needed the positivity right now and Harry disturbing that by some emotional talk about his godfather wasn't a good idea.

"Fudge and the public opinion are the next order of business. Dumbledore agreed not to impeach Fudge and ask for a vote against him. Still, he is at our mercy. That means the Daily Prophet isn't targeting Dumbledore and Harry anymore. This gives us a lot more freedom to operate. Nevertheless, the Order is a secret society."

Harry was surprised that nobody discussed anything. Maybe that part would come later.

"Lastly there is Voldemort. We have no idea where he is or what he is doing. But we do know that he is keeping a low profile for now, as he can't execute his plans as easy now that his return is official. That also reduced his ability to terroir drastically. So now is the time to capture known Death Eater. We've redistributed the battle groups. As soon as we hear about the location of Death Eaters, a team is going to be sent out to capture them. You will all get a parchment where your team is written down including the team leader. I am overseeing all operations and will distribute them as well. The group leader receives the target from me and from there on will inform the rest of his team", he explained.

Kingsley stood up and passed around the parchments. Harry got one as well.

"Harry, you are not seventeen yet, so you won't take part in the missions, but you will still take part in the planning and be present here when they are executed so that you can get used to it", Moody told Harry.

He looked at his parchment and the names on it.

 _Battle Group Thestral_

 _Team Leader: Aberforth Dumbledore_

 _Members:_

 _Nymphadora Tonks_

 _Jonathan Grey_

 _Julian Foster_

 _Fred Weasley_

 _George Weasley_

 _Alexandre Procter_

 _Harry Potter_

Who was Aberforth Dumbledore? Did the headmaster have a secret son or a cousin or a brother? Harry was very curious but also confused. It seemed like professor Dumbledore has kept even more from him than he knew about.

Harry was happy that there were some people he knew in his group. He already trusted Tonks and the twins, which was a good thing. The only one present out of the other members, who he didn't know, was Alexandre Proctor. They had met shortly before the meeting and he was a French wizard with British roots. During the first war he was still to young to fight, but as his parents were both killed 17 years ago by Death Eaters, he was happy to help this time. It was sad how most of the members of the Order had all lost family members to Voldemort and his followers.

The distribution of the parchments concluded the official part of the meeting. Now Moody was sitting at one end of the table noting down what people told him about their discoveries or their ideas and so on. Others were discussing what had been said and tried to get to know other members, especially those in the battle groups.

Harry joined the twins as they knew no one but Tonks as well. And they were wondering as much about Aberforth as he was. The three started talking with Alexandre and Tonks when Remus came by to talk to Harry.

"Harry, how's your battle group?", he asked.

"I don't really know. My group leader is Aberforth Dumbledore. He's obviously related to professor Dumbledore but I have no idea who he is", Harry told him.

"Well, it's not my place to tell you that story. You'll have to ask either Albus or Aberforth about that but I can tell you that they are brothers and that you are lucky to have him as a leader. He is capable and a genuinely kind person, just a bit rough on the outside. Who else is in your group?", he asked for some more details.

"There's Tonks, which I'm happy about. I know she'll make the mission planning more entertaining. As will the twins. And I already know those three and would trust them in a battle so that's good. Alexandre seems determined. I don't know about his skill level but he seems like a smart wizard", Harry said.

"Alexandre is rather strong from what I know. I've never fought with him, but he picked up a bunch of Death Eaters last year. All smaller targets but still, he helped us a lot last year. He was planning on joining the Order during the first war but couldn't because of his age and it was over before he turned 17. I'd say he's one of our most trusted and also capable members", Lupin explained.

"Oh, there's two people who aren't here besides Aberforth. Jonathan Grey and Julian Foster. Do you know them?", Harry asked.

"Ive heard of Jonathan. Nobody really knows much about him. He wasn't part of the Order during the first war. But there's some stories about his magical capabilities that are very impressive, though I can't tell you whether they are true or not. Julian Foster is an American wizard with British roots. He recruited for us abroad last time and then married a witch in the US. Because he was away I never got to know him but it seems like he's back now to fight", Remus told him.

"That sounds good. It seems like I have capable people taking care of me. How is your group?", Harry asked.

"I'm rather happy about it. I think you know Hestia Jones, she's in it. As is Charlie Weasley, with whom I've always gotten along. The other ones you don't know and a few of them aren't in the inner circle. Overall I'm satisfied. I just hope I'm ready to lead a team on my own", he said with sudden sad vibe.

"You didn't lead before", Harry asked.

"No... I was always together with Sirius last year", he responded. The pain was obvious in his voice.

Harry had been trying this whole time not to think about his godfather, but now it came through. For a while, him and Remus just stood there, thinking about their loss and what they had felt for Sirius and how they missed him.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when Arthur and his sons came by.

"Harry, we're leaving now", Bill informed him. He was accompanied by Fleur.

"Goodbye Remus, it was good seeing you again", Harry said.

"Yes, indeed it was. Have a good summer, Harry", Lupin responded.

Then he walked to the Fireplace and flooed back.

 **The Burrow**

Harry appeared where Ginny was waiting, her arms crossed.

"My room, now", she told him with a coldness in her voice that scared him.

She walked up the stairs decisively. When they entered the girls room, she told him sit down and then addressed Hermione.

"We'll need the room for a minute", Ginny said.

Hermione gave Harry a pitiful look on her way out.

"Ginny, what...", Harry tried to ask her what this was about.

"Oh no, you're letting me talk and then you can defend yourself!", her voice was getting louder.

"How could you do that? Just go to the Order and leave your friends behind? It's unfair to me, to Ron and to Hermione!", she shouted at him.

Her face was getting red and she took a few deep breaths. Harry wanted to use that pause to respond to her and opened his mouth, but she lifted her finger, signaling him to stay quiet. Not wanting to upset her, he complied.

"When did the Order do something for you Harry? When were they there for you? The only time they really busted you out and helped you, was at the DOM. And guess who was there with you? I was. Ron was. Hermione was. Neville and Luna too. Your friends who stood by you over the last years when your life was turned upside down. Remember how you complained to us last year because Dumbledore excluded you and you were left in the dark? Yeah, remember that? How we were there for you and tried to find out things to help you? How Ron told you about the dragons and maybe saved your life with that? That was all us? And now you're not even fighting for us to get included. Hermione told me that you saw me running up the stairs. Didn't you even have time to tell me or her that you would tell us what happened after? Or did you just not want to do that? Just because you're sitting at a table with the adults now that's no reason to leave us on the sidelines. Ron has risked his life often enough for you and Hermione and I would do the same. You should know that!"

It took a minute and a few deep breaths for her to calm down. Apparently her rant was over and she nodded at Harry, allowing him to respond now.

"Look, Ginny, I don't know what you're on about, but it wasn't me who decided to leave you out of it. That was the actual Order, which I am not a part of. So before you blame me, take a look around", he attacked her back.

Harry got that she was mad but she did not have to take that out on him, and he was definitely not in a condition to endure this without any response and defense.

"What I am on about? Come off your high horse, Harry! Do you think we can't help you as much as the Order does? What's the DA all about then? For me it was a way to make a difference cause we weren't allowed to elsewhere. And you may not be part of the Order, but they took you in and left us out and you seem fine with!", she yelled back.

"I am fine with it and you know why? Because the Order makes a bigger difference than the you do!", he fought back.

As soon as he said that though, he regretted it. Harry had let himself get infuriated by what she said and his emotions transformed into anger. She was shocked by what he said as well.

"Out."

Harry had expected that she would shout at him even more for that, that her anger would get unleashed on him, but this was even worse. The coldness in her voice when she said they one word could've cut though anything. It was menacing and he felt it. He definitely went to far with his comment and she was obviously hurt.

Ginny watched Harry as he exited her room. She was shocked at what he had said. How dare he? It was a really low blow. And that problem wasn't even, that she personally hurt, but what it really meant. He had gone too far and something like that couldn't get taken back just like that.

She heard a knock on the door. If that was Harry, she would hex him into oblivion.

"Who is it?", she tried to say normally, but her anger could not have been more obvious.

"Just Hermione", her voice came from across the door.

"Come in", Ginny told her.

Hermione took a minute to look around. No apparent physical fight, Ginny wasn't crying. She could work with that.

"What happened Ginny?", she asked.

"He didn't have a right to say that. That was too far", Ginny said.

"Say what?", Hermione wanted to know.

"Oh, as if you didn't hear it! We both yelled loud enough for the whole house to hear us!", she lashed out.

"Ok ok, you're right. He did go too far. But you know he didn't mean it", Hermione tried to console her.

"But he said it anyways. If he doesn't mean it, there's no reason to go that far. I get that in fights we say stuff that is exaggerated. This was too much though", she said less angry now.

Hermione didn't necessarily agree. She did think that on the large scheme, the Order could do more than the DA. But if Harry had said that to her, she would've been mad as well.

"So, what are you gonna do now?", Hermione wondered.

"I haven't thought about it. But I would've cursed him if he had stayed longer. First off all, he'll have to apologize. Then I'll decide what to do after", Ginny told her.

Hermione thought that it seemed quite reasonable, having accomplished her goal that Ginny gave him a chance to apologize. Now all she had to do was make sure that Harry would do it the right way.

They decided to drop the topic, as Ginny didn't want to think about it anymore. She had gotten along with Harry so well this summer and now he just left her hanging and insulted her like that.

The two girls continued to talk about some unimportant things before the older one left. Ginny didn't really mind, as she was dwelling on her thoughts anyway.

Hermione went off to see Harry, who was brooding in his room. Ron wasn't there.

"Hey, Harry, you alright?", she asked.

"You know what happened, so what do you think?", he asked back.

"I know she's mad and that you feel bad. Go apologize", she told him.

"It's not that simple Hermione!", he insisted.

"It is with Ginny. She has a hot temper but she's also very kind and you know that. She's going to forgive you, if you apologize sincerely. She wants to", Hermione replied.

"Alright, thanks", Harry said, already drifting off into thoughts.

Hermione left his room again, looking for Ron and leaving Harry working on his apology.

The rest of the day passed by without any major events, even though Harry and Ginny were ignoring each other, so Hermione and Ron spent most of their time together. He actually accepted her help on the work he did, trying to catch up on some stuff he missed last year.

Everybody went to sleep as usual, and Harry and Ginny still hadn't made up.

 **Later that night**

Harry woke up drastically once again. He had another nightmare, this time a lot worse than last time. Ginny had been killed by Bellatrix in this dream. Harry had left her to hunt after some other Death Eater and then she had stood ni chance when Lestrange attacked.

This made him realize he needed to apologize to her as fast as possible. How could he have said something like that? It wasn't even true and she had been there for him the entire summer, especially the night of his birthday.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep for some time, Harry went downstairs. Surprisingly enough, someone else was up again.

"Can't sleep", he asked.

"No", Ginny simply responded.

An awkward moment of silence occurred before he had the courage to speak.

"Look, Ginny, I'm really sorry about what I meant", he started.

She just looked at him, ready to judge his apology, so he continued.

"It wasn't fair of me to exclude you, and I'm sorry. Ron, Hermione and you as well have done more for me, especially last year, than Dumbledore has since I've been at Hogwarts. I mean there's really some security issues at school!", he tried to lighten the mood with the last sentence.

Ginny only raised an eyebrow. It was a but funny, but she didn't want to give his that satisfaction and stop him in his apology.

"I owe you a lot and you've been there for me all summer and I should've told you about it. And I'm ready to tell you everything that goes on at the Order. It was out of place to say that, and I'm sorry I hurt you and I'm honest when I say I didn't mean it", he ended apologizing, hoping it was enough.

Ginny still didn't say anything, but nodded her head, directed at the ground. While she did that, she looked at him demanding.

"Are you serious?", Harry asked.

She just continued to signal him what she wanted. Harry sighed once and then went on his knees.

"Please, oh Ginny, will you forgive me?", he asked sarcastically.

He knew she had already forgiving him, this was just a display of sass and power. It was impressive how she went from angry back to sassy in a matter of second. There wasn't a really emotional forgiving going on, she just went to the way things were before, which in this case meant making fun of him. And Harry was too relieved to be annoyed by that.

"Yeah yeah, you can stand up now, I had my fun", she told him after letting him kneel in front of her for a minute.

They both grinned.

"So, why can't you sleep?", she asked smiling concerned.

"Nightmares. Nothing new", he responded.

"Want to tell me about it?", she offered.

"Not really, I'd rather just ignore it", he told her.

"Alright, so, why don't you tell me what I can expect from year five and we sit down on the couch?", Ginny suggested.

If Harry didn't want to talk, you didn't push him. She knew he confided in her and that he would talk to her if he needed to. That was good enough, she couldn't expect more. Just because he had told her all of his painful experiences when he was drunk, that didn't mean he would share everything else with her.

He gladly accepted her offer and they sat down, pulling a blanket over them and started talking. At one point they got tired and Ginny laid her head on Harry's shoulder. Nobody had ever done that before, but he felt comfortable with her. They fell asleep shortly after.

 **A/N: I've had some trouble structuring the next few chapters but I think this is alright. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!**


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